Mistake or Luck?
by PrinceZukofan
Summary: 15 year old Kushai finds a boomerang one day. She is unaware that it belongs to a companion of the Avatar. Prince Zuko stumbles across her path and expects the first. Can she restore something the Prince has lost? And maybe even his honor...PLEASE REVIEW!
1. The Boomerang

The Boomerang

AN: This is my first story, so sorry if it's not so good. It is rated K+ JUST in case something gets a bit too dramatic or violent. Please enjoy!

Kushai

Kushai walked down to the river to catch some fish.

"PLEASE give me more luck today," she prayed as she padded along on the soft sand. It felt good with the warm sand slipping through her toes.

She reached the river and sat down, careful not to get her clothes too sandy. Her long black hair fell down to caress her cheek; she flipped it out of her face.

"Wow, that was quick," she smiled excitedly as she spotted what she thought was a fish. She waterbended a a round ball of water containing the "fish".

"This isn't a fish, it's a…. boomerang! It's pretty, I guess I could keep it," Kushai observed it, it was white with a blue stone in it (sound familiar?).

Kushai snapped out of her stare and once again kept looking for fish. One, two, three, four, five……..a six? YES!

She picked up her basket with now 6 fish in it. She skipped home satisfied with a job well done. She halted abruptly.

"THE BOOMERANG!" She slapped a hand in her face scolding herself. She quickly turned to get it.

She was about to pick it up when someone snapped it up before she had a chance to react. Huh? She thought to herself, and quickly stared up into a pair of amber eyes, NEVER had she seen such a color!

There in front of her stood a boy about her age, 15 or 16 maybe, he was bold except for a little triangle with a ponytail of black hair. He was wearing armor, armor from the fire nation? And he had a…..scar!

"Oh shoot!" Kushai backed off many steps until she tripped over a rock and fell flat on her butt. Typical, she thought to herself as she quivered in fear of the boy, or should she say Prince Zuko…….


	2. Sokka's Sad

Sokka's Sad

AN: Sorry the last chapter was so short; I'll try to make this one longer! PLEASE REVIEW!

Sokka and the Gang

"I can't believe it! The sorry firebender who took my boomerang is gonna regret this!" Sokka growled.

"Sokka, I know you want your boomerang, it's just like the time I lost my necklace. But you can't be sure that somebody took it," Katara reasoned, a memory of how Prince Zuko had tried to reason with her filled her mind. He had the necklace, should she tell them?

"Katara? Are you ok?" Aang asked in concern, snapping her out of her thoughts. She realized he had been staring at her for a while.

"Huh? Oh yeah, umm. There's something I want to tell you both," Katara shifted uneasily.

"You know who took it don't you?" Sokka asked angrily, as if he was totally sure

"No, that I don't, but I know who has my necklace…." Katara sighed

"Oh? Who?" The airbender leaned closer to her as if he couldn't hear.

"Well…..umm…I really want it back and-" Katara got interrupted by an infuriated Sokka. "SPIT IT OUT ALREADY! You sound like Aang when he tries to tell you he loves-" This time Aang interrupted.

"I love your dress!" Aang tried to make a reasonable sentence out of it.

"OK! Thank you, but can I continue what I wanted to say now?" Katara got a little impatient.

"Oh sorry…." Aang apologized in embarrassment.

"Ok, I might as well get it overwith…Prince Zuko has it," Katara almost whispered.

"THAT IDIOT OF A FIREBENDER! I can't believe him, he just HAD to take it so he could look pretty, what an idiot," Sokka almost shouted.

Aang and Katara stared at him with the weirdest look.

"What?" Sokka questioned looking puzzled.

"I highly doubt he took it to wear it…." Katara pointed out.

"fnppsfnisphhh……HAHAHAHA!" Katara and Sokka looked over to see Aang rolling around in the saddle, he had given up holding in his laughter and now was letting it all out.

Sokka looked away, hiding his now red cheeks…..but of course Aang would always jump for the chance at a joke.

"Nice make-up Sokka," Aang burst out laughing, he had meant his red cheeks.

Katara tried her best to not laugh, but she spilled.

"Yeah, ok, I think we all get the point now," Sokka grumbled.

"Sorry, it's just sort of funny," Aang apologized, still laughing.

"Ok, so Katara, you're saying we should steal the necklace from Prince Zuko?" Sokka asked curiously. "Or are your hormones acting up?" He asked mischievously.

"WHAT! NO!" Katara shouted with fury in her voice.

Aang's face turned from upset to happy…..'good, she doesn't like him' repeated in his mind.

"And yes, I was sorta hoping we could steal it back from Prince Zuko," Katara prompted.

"Did you forget your promise Katara?" Sokka teased, reminding her of the 'no more stealing' rule

"So you don't want to kick his butt?" Katara asked acting surprised.

"Ok, I'm in!" Sokka jumped at the chance.

"Sure, I guess," Aang turned away, he was afraid Prince Zuko would hurt his friends….or if maybe he'd take Katara away from him…..

(let's see how Kushai is doing. I know you're all waiting for that part, haha)

Kushai

"Looking for this?" Prince Zuko smirked as he showed her the boomerang.

Kushai quickly got up and got in a fighting stance. He wanted something, but what?

"What do you want?" She asked bravely, putting herself together and pushing away her fear.

"Tell me where the Avatar is," Prince Zuko commanded as he too, got in a fighting stance, JUST in case she would try something.

"The Avatar? I don't know where he-" she was interrupted by a flame aiming right for her.

She yelped as she jumped out of the way, just barely avoiding the furious flames.

She was about to do the waterwhip when something hit her in the head. She tried to find the attacker who had done it, but soon she had fallen unconscious….

The "attackers"

"AANG! YOU IDIOT! YOU HIT THE GIRL! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HIT ZUKO!" Sokka exclaimed angrily.

"Oops…." The young airbender rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks red.

"Guys," Katara tried to get their attention.

"Ugh! You just ruined our chance at getting Katara's necklace and more importantly, MY BOOMERANG…..oh, AND the girl!" Sokka kept shouting furiously!

"Guys!" Katara repeated, this time with more urgency in her voice.

"You can still get it can't you?" Aang hoped there was some way he could erase his embarrassment.

"No you airhead, he's most likely already taking the girl on the ship, that we were supposed to save, my boomerang, and the ne-"

"GUYS!" Katara shouted panickly flailing her arms in the air, and pointing repetitively down under them.

"AHH! AANG! STEER APPA! NOW!" Sokka pointed at Aang as he kept an eye on the now quickly gaining fireball.

Aang quickly stared Appa out of the way, they would have to leave the area, and quick! Prince Zuko was throwing many more gusts of fire at them before the 3 companions were no longer in sight.

AN: Hope ya'll liked it! Please review!


	3. Where Am I?

Where Am I?

AN: I'm trying really hard to keep it updated, hope you like it! PLEASE REVIEW!

Prince Zuko

"DAMNIT!" Prince Zuko growled in anger. "That stupid….thing!" Prince Zuko referred to as Appa.

Prince Zuko looked down at the unconscious girl. Why had the Avatar hit her in the head with, umm…..Prince Zuko bent down to examine what had hit her. A stone…..why in the world would the Avatar be carrying a stone around with him….Prince Zuko observed the girl……yes, she was pretty, he had to admit…she had long black hair which reached her waist…her waist was small, and her hips were a nice width for a woman…not that he knew much about girls….

"Prince Zuko," a voice called behind him. Prince Zuko turned around to see Uncle Iroh.

"What have you done to the poor girl," Uncle Iroh scolded.

"It wasn't….uh….whatever. Guards! Take her to the ship!" Prince Zuko commanded.

When the guards didn't hurry up Prince Zuko was his usual self to become furious. "NOW!" Prince Zuko shouted!

In a matter of seconds the men had carried her onto the ship.

"Put her in the prison cell," the spoiled Prince gave out orders here and there. The men scuffled around, completing their tasks. Prince Zuko walked over to the railing of the ship and watched the waves rise and fall….

"So Prince Zuko, why did you take the girl?" Uncle Iroh interrupted his thoughts once again.

"She's a friend of the Avatar," he answered simply, noticing his Uncle raising an eyebrow he felt uncomfortable. "What?" Prince Zuko hissed.

"Hmm…nothing," his Uncle replied with a hint of amusement in his voice, which of course caused Prince Zuko to become infuriated.

"She had something that belonged to one of the Avatar's companions," Prince Zuko growled.

When his Uncle wouldn't leave, Prince Zuko became ever more furious. "Don't you need to get back to your Ginseng tea or something?" Prince Zuko quickly turned on his heel and stomped off.

Uncle Iroh's eyes widened as he quickly turned around and hurried to his………precious tea!

Kushai

Kushai woke up with a a punding in the head…..where was she?

"This is definitely not my room," she concluded seeing all the red, orange, and black, and the metal floor.

She tried to stand up, only to fall as the ground beneath her quickly turned. "What the….the ground moving…..OH SHOOT!" She yelped, she was one a fire nation ship! All of a sudden all her memories flooded through her mind…..Prince Zuko, something hitting her, a boomerang…

Her thoughts were interrupted by a clinking noise, somebody was walking to the door….

Kushai tried again to stand up and protect herself from whoever it was, this time she succeeded. Now it was only to wait….

AN: I know that wasn't much of a cliffy but hey, I'm not that good! PLEASE review!


	4. Misjudged

Misjudged

AN: You'll get a little surprise in this chapter….PLEASE REVIEW! Reviews help me in writing good chapters……..

Kushai

The door slid slowly open, Kushai ran at the door. With all her strength she did a breathtaking side kick. The kick could easily knock someone out.

But soon she found herself laying flat on the floor.

"I may be a bit old and out of shape, but it doesn't mean I have lost my talents from being a general of the fire nation," there in front of her was Uncle Iroh (surprise surprise).

He stared down at Kushai, her expression was stunning, and no words could describe that face!

"You did have good form though, but you may want to train on a better attack," he laughed, but his laugh was kind.

"Hmph…your ship just has to be made out of metal doesn't it," she grumbled as she rubbed her "bottom".

"Oh, this isn't my ship, it is my nephew's. I believe you have already met him," Uncle Iroh smiled.

"Your nephew, and may I ask for what his name is?" She was unprepared for the answer she got.

"Haha, he must have knocked you out pretty fast. Prince Zuko is my nephew, please excuse his manners of hurting you but-" Prince Zuko walked in, the first thing he sees is Kushai on the floor.

"I see you've challenged my Uncle ," Prince Zuko snickered.

They both turned to see the source of the noise.

"Yeah, haha, so funny……I see some resemblance about you two," Kushai got up on her legs, they weren't too sturdy.

"Oh really? Not many people do," Uncle Iroh questioned curiously.

"Well, you both like to make fun of me," she pointed out.

"Oh….sorry," Uncle Iroh apologized politely, while the prince just rolled his eyes,

"I'll leave and let you drill the prisoner here," Uncle Iroh chuckled as he left.

"So, what do you want?" She stuck her nose up high.

"I asked you before, but you wouldn't answer. I will ask again for you to tell me where the Avatar is," Prince Zuko said as a flame formed in his hand.

"How do you expect me to know?" She tilted her head.

"You had the boomerang, the one that belonged to a companion of the Avatar. Now, stop playing stupid and answer my question!" He growled.

Realization struck her and she froze for a couple of seconds. But it was long enough for Prince Zuko to shoot a furious flame at her.

"AH!" She jumped out of the way, searching desperately for her element to defend with.

"I…." She took several breaths until she continued what she wanted to say, "I don't know anything the Avatar, I found the boomerang in a river while I was fishing. All I know is he has obviously returned."

The Prince stopped shooting flames and made a face. "If you are lying, I swear you won't be on this ship for very-"

"I AM NOT LYING!" She ran up to him, realizing how close she was, she took several steps back.

Prince Zuko sighed as his head was spinning. If she wasn't lying, then what should he do?

"Now, could you please let me off this ship?" She snapped.

"No, it would delay me in capturing the Avatar," Prince Zuko concluded and was on his way out when somebody splashed water at him.

He turned around with a death glare. Kushai had found water in a corner and had splashed it at him. He was about to shoot a fire, but regained control of his temper.

"Look, you got me into this mess, so it's your job to get me out of it. AND I'm dying from hunger!" Kushai exclaimed.

"Urgh, you are a greater nuisance than my Uncle," the firebender slapped a hand in his face.

"Well there's no one to blame but yourself," she snickered. "Now, about that food?" She questioned as her stomach growled loudly.

Before she had a time to say anything he had grabbed her wrist, holding it tightly so she wouldn't escape. He pulled her out the door and up to a room where his Uncle was sitting with a cup of tea.

Uncle Iroh looked up and smiled, "Are you hungry miss?"

"No, not really, I've just been without food for 6 hours," She joked.

"7 actually, we're eating fish today, not that we eat much else. Just thought you'd want to know," the man took a sip of his tea.

"Would you like some tea?"

"Sure, why not," She sat down by the man once Prince Zuko let go.

"Prince Zuko, come join," his Uncle had that look that said, PLEASE GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE!

"….fine…." the boy sat down as far away from the girl he could, which Kushai was more than happy about.

"So, what kind of bender are you? According to the looks of my nephew right now, I'm assuming you're a waterbender?" Uncle Iroh interrupted the silence.

Prince Zuko grimaced as he tried to dry off the water on his armor using a small flame.

"Yes, I am a waterbender," she blushed as she looked over to the grimacing Prince.

"That girl splashed water on me!" Prince Zuko spat.

"Well if you hadn't dragged me onto the ship maybe you wouldn't look so pathetic right now!" She yelled back.

"Well, I would've burned you by now if it wasn't for my Uncle!" Prince Zuko leaned over the table as he shouted.

"Are you saying you're _scarred_ of your Uncle?" She teased, yeah, that was meaner than she was aiming for. Scared, scarred, haha…..wait..not funny ….

A flame was aiming right at her now, if it hadn't been for Uncle Iroh, she would most likely be dead. He quickly gathered thefire and put it out in a glass of water.

"Prince Zuko, temper," Uncle Iroh said calmly.

"Please try not to bring up his scar," Uncle Iroh whispered to Kushai who nodded.

"….sorry…." Kushai apologized as she looked at a random object far away from Prince Zuko.

Prince Zuko was stunned. Had she apologized!

"Yeah, whatever…." Prince Zuko shook his head mentally.


	5. Saved by a Waterbender

Saved by a Waterbender

AN: PLEASE REVIEW! Haha, no, Kushai's not going to be annoying Prince Zuko throughout the whole story, sorry! JUST saw the episode, Jet. WHAT A JERK!

Prince Zuko

Prince Zuko was shot another fire at the guard. For a change it wasn't because he was angry. He was training.

The guard hopped out of the way, sending a smaller flame at Prince Zuko, which he easily dodged.

"Prince Zuko, the girl, she must be hungry," Uncle Iroh said as more of a question than a fact.

"UGH! I am training Uncle!" Prince Zuko aimed a vicious flame at the guard in anger. He wanted nothing to do with the girl, what if he….

"Prince Zuko, she has no choice but to be here. You must at least give her food," Uncle Iroh waved a hand to the guard, saying he was excused. The guard scuffled off, scared that the Prince would send more flames at him.

"Fine, but she will have to make her own brekfeast," Prince Zuko turned around only to stop and see Kuhsai about to jumo off the ship.

"UNCLE! You let her out! GUARDS! GET HER!" Prince Zuko shouted as he ran over to the rail of the ship where the girl was getting ready to jump off.

"AH!" Kushai shrieked. She swung herself over the side and splashed into the water.

She started to waterbend herself forward, but somebody made a splash beside her, grabbing her.

"LET….GO! AGH! NO!" She flung her body violently from side to side as he held her tightly.

She shoved a burst of water at him, causing him to fall back 20 feet. Uncle Iroh gasped, Prince Zuko had too much armor, heavy armor, it would be impossible for him to swim!

Prince Zuko struggled to keep over the water, in fact he was slowly sinking. Kushai looked back to see Prince Zuko gasping for breath. No, she couldn't let it happen….it had happened once…..it wouldn't happen again……

Kushai turned around and dove down in the water at an amazing speed.

Prince Zuko was now 10 feet underwater. She grabbed him and pushed herself up with a powerful surge of waterbending.

Prince Zuko took a long breath once he was above the water. But soon found himself being lifted up by a wave of water. Surprisingly the stream of water set him down gently.

He found Kushai standing over him with a face of……concern was it?

"PRINCE ZUKO!" Uncle Iroh ran over to his nephew. "Are you alright?" His Uncle asked with the same concern that Kushai had in her eyes.

"I'm fine!" Prince Zuko got up quickly.

"Kushai, my nephew owes you one. The fire nation owes you one," Uncle Iroh bowed in Chinese style.

"I don't want it to happen again….I just……don't," Kushai panted, she knew well that they had no clue what she meant, but that was ok. She didn't know what else to say.

Uncle Iroh stared at her with a questioning look. But Kushai ignored it, bowed, and nodded to Zuko in a good-bye manner.

"Wait…" Prince Zuko sighed uncomfortably.

"Please don't leave," Uncle Iroh finished. Uncle Iroh gave his nephew a look that said, she saved your life, be thankful.

"Well……I guess I don't have anywhere else to go," She looked away.

"That was powerful waterbending. You have much ability," Uncle Iroh smiled kindly. Uncle Iroh had been stunned at her waterbending, it had been amazing.

"Thank you," She turned around and left.

"My nephew, please treat her with respect. She saved your life," Uncle Iroh convinced.

"Yes Uncle," He too, turned around and left……in the same direction as Kushai had gone…..

AN: HOPE YA'LL LIKED IT!


	6. A Very Uncomfortable Situation

A Very Uncomfortable Situation and the New Fight

AN: I feel like my story is horrible, cause so far I don't have a lot of reviews…..so…….PLEASE REVIEW!

Kushai

Kushai sent another water burst at the Prince. They were having a duel. Uncle Iroh had suggested they have a duel since after all, Kushai was a powerful watebender.

The Prince had obviously dodged the stream of water, he smiled smugly as he sent another flame at her. Surprisingly this one wasn't deadly!

She made a shield of water to block the flame. "You're not as bad as I thought," The Prince commented, acting amazed.

"Oh haha….you're not as GOOD as I thought," She smiled at her comeback.

"Well, you are worse than an out of shape, tea obsessed man, after all he did beat you that time," Prince Zuko proudly straightened himself. What does she have to say now?

"Well…..he is after all teaching you, which means you're being taught by an out of shape, tea obsessed man," She cast him a glare that could only be described in ONE word, victorious.

Her face soon changed as the ship made a sudden turn causing her to tumble on top of Prince Zuko. Oh shoot, get off, get off, GET OFF, she commanded to herself in panick.

"……umm….y-yea…s-so-orry…." She stuttered as she pushed herself off of him.

He groaned, she had just pushed herself up from his stomach. Ouch…..did she have to embarrass herself every second of the day!

"Sorry….I guess I wasn't-" She whipped her head around to see Uncle Iroh staring at them in amusement.

"I see you were able to knock him down? Not bad….but maybe it wasn't exactly the correct way to do it," the man held in his laughter at the face of Kushai, who was no blushing with the most red color he had ever seen.

"The…boat….it, umm…it made a very..uh, quick move," She found herself struggling with words.

Prince Zuko, who had been standing there quietly had absolutely no clue what to do or say. "Why….yeah, why did the ship turn so unexpectedly?" Prince Zuko growled mentally at himself, that was the uttermost pathetic question he had ever asked. And that voice he had said it in was impeccably hilarious, it wasn't even funny…….wait, that didn't make any sense …I'm losing it!

"Prince Zuko, why are you shaking your head?" His Uncle wondered.

"I'm not! Now, training is over," He walked off, only to stumble over his own feet. He quickly regained his balance and sped up.

Aang and his friends

Katara

"It's too bad we couldn't save the girl, I wonder what he wanted from her," Katara asked more to herself than the others who were doing the weirdest things from boredom.

Sokka was playing with a loose string on his shirt. Actually, he was trying to cut it in half, karate style. Whack! Whack! Whack! He whacked at it helplessly as he seemed to be cursing under his breath. It was outrageously funny, Katara wondered why she wasn't laughing.

Aang was humming a most ridiculous song. He was moving his hands and making a ball of air, then he threw it quickly to his left. Katara could swear he had said "Prince Zuko!" That was also hilarious, he was acting like he was fighting Prince Zuko while he hummed a song that would easily be described as an ironic scene.

"Yeah, I still can't decide if we should go back and save her," Sokka replied about 3 minutes after. He had given up with the 'evil' string.

"Well, it would be a bit odd if somebody saw the Avatar chasing a fire navy ship, not to mention that we would be chasing Prince Zuko" Katara rubbed her chin.

"No, you think?" Sokka made a dull face.

"We should help her, maybe if we stopped at a nearby island we could sleep and regain some energy. The next morning we could go save her?" Katara suggested.

"What do you think Aang?" Katara questioned, being her responsible self to hear everyone's opinion, oh, except Sokka's!

Aang was in the middle of one of his 'attacks' and was sitting in a very interesting position. His arm was pulled out in front of him, and he was leaning forward as if shooting an air burst.

"Huh? Oh, ok! Sure thing! Whatever you say Katara," Aang snapped back to reality. Aang liked Katara, a lot, he hoped she hadn't noticed what he was doing before she questioned him. But by looking at her smiling expression, he was pretty sure he had totally embarrassed himself.

"So, did you win?" Katara smiled kindly.

Aang blushed, that answered his question.

"And you Sokka, has the evil string surrendered yet?" Her voice was way more mocking than it ever was to Aang.

Sokka looked at Katara's amused expression. "Oh haha….so funny I forgot to laugh!" Sokka looked away.

"Well, technically you did laugh, doesn't 'haha' serve in that category?" The young waterbender mocked him awhile more until she decided he had had enough embarrassment for one hour.

At the ship

"Can somebody pass me the tea?" Uncle Iroh asked politely.

Kushai stretched her arm out to grab it, but was surprised to find another hand. Prince Zuko instantly let go of the mug.

"Wow, the Prince of the fire nation took it to himself to take an order!" Kushai broke the awkwardness.

"For your information, it wasn't an order, it was a question!" Prince Zuko snapped.

"Even better," Kushai laughed as she took another sip of her water.

'Oh great' Uncle Iroh sighed to himself, another fight.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Prince Zuko questioned angrily.

"Well, it means you had a choice to waste your energy, and you did!" She praised herself, since when did she become so good at statements?

"Excuse me, I have a lot more energy-" Prince Zuko looked towards his Uncle who was now holding for his ears and pushing away from the table.

"I'll be leaving now," Uncle Iroh hurried out the door leaving the two teenagers in and awkward silence.

"So…." Kushai glanced at her food.

"I'll be going outside," Prince Zuko got up quickly and walked out the door.

Kushai followed, 'what does she want' pondered in the boy's mind.

"Exactly what do you suppose I should do in an empty room?" Kushai questioned as she stared out over the railing of the boat.

"Something you'd normally do in that room, eat your food," Prince Zuko tried not to make it sound like a kind teasing way, but he messed that up.

"Do you miss your family?" Kushai asked absent mindedly.

"I don't have much of a family," came his simple reply.

"Oh….sorry…..I don't have a family," Kushai stared harder into the water, it seemed she was trying to burn a hole it.

"I'm sorry…" Prince Zuko shifted uneasily. "You do know that your eyes aren't going to be able to bore a hole in the ocean right?" He added quickly, hoping that she wouldn't have time to think about him apologizing. He had had a teasing voice. Sadly, it came out wrong and sounded kind again.

"Yeah I know, I was just…..umm…" Kushai thought hard.

"I was being sarcastic," Prince Zuko interrupted her spinning mind.

"That, I also know…." Kushai snapped quickly. Actually she hadn't been thinking straight for the last minutes, and she hadn't thought about the being 'sarcastic' part.

"I'll be heading to bed now," Kushai turned around. The last thing she saw was a smile on Prince Zuko's face. 'A smile' she thought over and over again.

AN: PLEASE REVIEW! Sorry my story is moving sorta slow!


	7. WHY!

WHY!

AN: THANKS SO MUCH TO blackened-fire! Everybody clap for her, she reviewed my story 6 times! Thank you so much! Plus your story rocks! Honestly, I don't know really where I'm going with this either, but that's what makes it fun!

Prince Zuko

"Yeah, I think that pebble is very interesting too," Kushai giggled as Prince Zuko almost knocked down a vase in surprise.

He had been playing with a pebble on the deck, picking it up, observing it and such.

"Do you always sneak up on people like this?" Prince Zuko turned and faced her with a frown.

"Only people who play with very interesting pebbles," She smiled "Which if I may say, I don't see very often. So yeah, you are pretty much the only one I sneak up on," Kushai was just lucky to be able to hold in her laughter.

"Hmph…..," Prince Zuko turned around and kicked the pebble to get it out of there. But of course something stupid had to happen. The pebble hit the railing and bounced back to hit his head.

"URGH!" The Prince rubbed the spot were the pebble so evilly had hit him, then he burned it into ashes.

"What an evil pebble! Good thing you executed it before it attacked somebody else," Kushai acted intelligent.

"Oh, shut it!" Prince Zuko growled.

"Ok, so is it time for breakfast?" Kushai let go of the pebble subject, even though it was impeccably funny.

"Yes it is indeed, and Prince Zuko, why is your forehead red?" Uncle Iroh looked at his nephew.

"A pebble attacked him. He just barely got away! Thankfully he was able to execute it before it attacked anybody else!" Kushai said in the same voice she had used last time.

"Sounds like a very intense fight," Uncle Iroh laughed.

"That subject is getting very boring," Prince Zuko growled.

"Oh, you have no idea how amusing it is to be in these shoes at the moment!" Kushai smiled from ear to ear.

"Let's see how you feel when you join that pebble's ashes!" Prince Zuko tried to look threatening, but failed.

Kushai raised an eyebrow. They stared at each other, unsure if they were having a staring contest or if they were trying to look as threatening as possible.

"How about some breakfast?" Uncle Iroh, who had been standing there, watching in amusement, now interrupted.

Kushai snapped out of the contest and jumped over to Uncle Iroh. "SURE!" Kushai ran to the room where they always ate. Uncle Iroh, on the other hand, pictured the room as 'where Kushai and Prince Zuko always get into fights'.

"You're dumber!" Kushai argued.

"NO, YOU ARE!" Prince Zuko argued back.

"Nuhuh!"

"Uhuh!"

"Nuhuh!"

Prince Zuko was about to reply, but was as usual interrupted by his Uncle.

"This room is a nightmare!" Uncle Iroh sighed.

"Prince Zuko, there have been reported news on the Avatar," A guard entered the room.

"Does it state his location?" Prince Zuko stood up.

"Yes sir, he is reported to be at Tyrosha Island," The guard finished.

"Tell the navigator to turn the ship to Tyrosha Island Immediately!" Prince Zuko commanded.

"'Sir," The guard nodded and left the room.

"The Avatar? So he really has returned," Kushai just couldn't get that into her head. But suddenly her thoughts were flooded with rage.

"But why, why do you want this war? Let the Avatar do his job, he's old and tired now after 100 years. He needs no more trouble!" Kushai stood up bravely as she asked the two.

"Actually the Avatar is a 12 year old boy," Uncle Iroh pointed out.

Kushai blinked. "EVEN WORSE! A 12 YEAR OLD BOY HAS TO SAVE THE WORLD! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?" Kushai shouted, flailing her arms furiously. The water in Prince Zuko's cup was now restless, and in a couple of seconds it had splashed him in the face.

"ARGH! I'M SICK OF GETTING WET FROM YOUR OUT-OF-CONTROL WATERBENDING!" Prince Zuko was now also shouting.

"YOU SHUT IT!" Kushai shouted in his face."How could you possibly want to hurt a 12 year old boy!" Kushai was enraged.

Prince Zuko was taken aback.

"Kushai, please calm down. He only wants his honor back. We don't wish to hurt the boy," Uncle Iroh put a hand on her shoulder which she swat away.

Kushai sat down, a little more calm now. "But why, why do you want this war? Please try to understand! It's wrong!" Kushai was clearly upset.

"It's not up to us. Lord Ozai is in control of this," Uncle Iroh said sadly.

Kushai sank down in her chair.

"Firebenders were meant to control the nations, we have much more order," Came Prince Zuko's reply.

"I KNEW IT! Stop lying to me! You do want to be in control of all nations! Well, guess what 'Prince Zuko', you are sick and wrong!" In that instant she left the room.

"She does like things to be don her way," Uncle Iroh commented as he stared after her.

"You just figured that out!" Prince Zuko frowned.

"She's obviously hurt, Prince Zuko, maybe you should try to comfort her," Uncle Iroh suggested.

"No Uncle. She is wrong, it is right for the fire nation to do this. The boy is in our way, we need to rid off him. I will regain my honor…." Prince Zuko started thinking.

"Prince Zuko, you want your honor. You don't want this war?" Uncle Iroh meant this as a question.

The truth was...Prince Zuko didn't want this war...

"I….I'm going to go train now," Prince Zuko stood up and walked out the door. He turned left? He doesn't train there? He was headed for Kushai's room…..

AN: PLEASE REVIEW! HOPE YA'LL LIKED IT!


	8. Understanding

Understanding

AN: Sorry it has been a while, I'm moving in a couple of months, so just so ya know, it may be hard for me to update!

Kushai

Kushai cried, tears streaming down her face. Why she was filled with such rage was beyond her knowledge. She had never felt such emotion towards the war before. Or maybe it was the fact that Prince Zuko wanted it….wait? How does that make a difference?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Kushai?" A voice called.

'Prince Zuko' she thought. What did he want, it doesn't matter, I'm not letting him in.

The door opened and the Prince stepped inside. Oops, Kushai clasped a hadn in her face. She forgot to lock the door.

"What do you want?" Kushai turned to look out a window.

"I'm…," Prince Zuko stopped, what was he doing there? 'Get your butt outta her now' Prince Zuko tried to push himself out the door. But something wouldn't let him. Great, now he was glued to the floor….

"WHAT?" Kushai repeated impatiently. She felt another tear make its way down her streaked face.

"I'm………sorry…." Prince Zuko looked around as if he was searching for a way to escape.

"I just don't understand……this war…..why do you want it?" Kushai turned to face him.

Prince Zuko stared at her streaked face. Had he caused that? Whatever….he didn't care…….right?

"I……don't want the war," the boy was shifting uneasily. This was none of her business! Why was she asking for his personal information? Wait…..she wasn't….

"Then why did you lie, is it that fun to break me? Is it that amusing to watch my tears?" Kushai asked, hurt was clear in her voice.

"I didn't mean to….I guess I'm under pressure," Prince Zuko was definitely not himself!

"I hate to hurt you," Prince Zuko was taken aback by his own words.

Kushai stared, that was the nicest thing he had ever said to her.

"I'm sorry……you are under pressure, I shouldn't be adding more weight to it," Kushai apologized, surprisingly looking him straight in the eyes, instead of looking at a random object.

"Would you like to watch the sunset?" Kushai asked. The silence was so awkward she had said something she wasn't quite sure why she had said.

"What? You mean the sun? When it sets? Like-" Prince Zuko was interrupted as she laughed.

Kushai brushed away the tears on her cheeks and smiled.

"No, I mean that wall over there," Kushai said stupidly, giggling as he turned his head to take a look.

"Not literally!" Kushai jumped up, grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room.

"THAT STUPID MAP IS CURSED!" Sokka exclaimed as he struggled with holding it. It whacked him in the face, of course his first reaction was to 'let go and touch his face'.

"The map just cursed itself off Appa," Katara growled at her brother.

"How am I supposed to know where to go now?" Aang asked.

"Yeah, like you knew how to read it anyways! All you're doing is flying around that tree!" Sokka pointed at a tree that they had passed 5 times.

"Sokka, don't blame him, you don't even know which way left is!" Katara scolded.

"I most certainly do!" Sokka puffed up his chest.

"You mean, that time you crashed with the canoe was left?" Katara acted surprised.

"You just don't know how to steer a canoe!" Sokka argued.

"So, which way is left, why don't you teach me," Katara grinned.

Sokka opened his mouth to say something, but then quickly froze. He tried to figure out which direction to point, and chose 'right' as in wrong but right.

Katara smiled evilly. "Yep, that's 'right' for sure," Katara concluded.

"See?" Sokka stuck his nose into the air proudly.

"Sokka, that was the direction 'right'," Aang joined Katara as she laughed.

"Well, at least my instincts were correct with that liar, Jet," Sokka pointed out, causing a painful memory for Katara.

Katara turned around and watched the ocean, 'why Jet?' repeated in her mind.

AN: Sorry, this chapter was super short, but it's too late for me to continue!


	9. Emotions

**Emotions**

AN: Sorry, I'm a little behind with the updating!

Kushai

Kushai turned her head to Prince Zuko. He was very tense, why? He was just watching the sunset?

"Is the sun really that scary?" Kushai broke the growing silence.

"Huh? Oh, no, I'm just…." Prince Zuko searched frantically for an answer.

"Relax," Kushai smiled warmly at him. Her smile could drown a man. Her eyes were kind and surprisingly comforting.

The Prince was startled as he found himself smiling too. He wiped the smile off his face as quickly as it had appeared. He straightened himself and tried to think of something to say.

"That time….in the water…" Prince Zuko tried hard not to bring up how she had 'saved' him. It made him seem weak, he was not weak!

"Oh….my mom….she died that way…." Kushai fought back the tears pressing their way to trail down her cheek. She failed as a little droplet of glass rolled down her red cheeks.

Prince Zuko looked at her, "Oh, I'm sorry." Prince Zuko knew he had opened an old scar. Different from his that is, it was mental.

"It's ok, I'm just a bit sensitive when it comes to my mom," Kushai turned to look at him. "But I shouldn't be complaining, you haven't seen your family in 2 years," Kushai pointed out.

Prince Zuko shook his head as if trying to rid off the thought. "My father never really cared. I lost my mom at the age of 6, somebody killed her to get revenge against my father," Prince Zuko seemed to loose strength from saying this.

Kushai decided to not further question this broken heart, but she couldn't help but say something.

"Your father is dead wrong, if he can't appreciate you….then, he probably doesn't know how to love," Kushai smiled once again at him.

Prince Zuko couldn't believe this, a girl could give this much comfort while his Uncle couldn't give half of it in 2 years!

"Do you really mean that?" Prince Zuko questioned. If he had ever been bragged about, this was the first one in years!

"Of course I do. You are doing the work an adult would normally struggle with, plus you have a good heart, I know you do. At first…." Kushai's words were silenced as Prince Zuko pulled her into a gentle kiss. (Too mushy! Sorry!)

Kushai opened her eyes as he let go of her. "….didn't think you had one," Kushai finished. "But I was dead wrong," Kushai blinked at him.

Prince Zuko blushed, what had he done? He wanted to just hide, it was so awkward.

Kushai realized how embarrassed he was, she would help him out. "It's ok, I was just about to do the same, "Kushai lied.

At this Prince Zuko softened his tense position. He was about to say something, but his Uncle of COURSE came to interrupt.

"Oh, am I interrupting something?" Uncle Iroh asked, a little mockingly. Prince Zuko almost knocked Kushai off the ship as he jumped up.

Kushai was sitting flat on her butt, for the 3rd time she had fallen flat on her butt! Kushai got up, brushing off her pants of 'invisible' dust, hey, it was better than being face to face with that amused face Uncle Iroh had.

"No, I was just about to go to bed," Kushai stopped dusting off herself and turned to go to her room.

Once the girl was out of earshot Uncle Iroh took it upon himself to bring up Kushai.

"She is fine Prince Zuko, I haven't seen you this happy in years!" Uncle Iroh looked at his nephew.

"Uncle, there is nothing going on between us! There is going to be no 'us'," Prince Zuko turned to stomp off, but was stopped as his Uncle said some piercing words.

"You two are going to have to share a bed," Uncle Iroh was ready to block a flame, which indeed came 1 second after he had prepared himself.

"WHAT!" Prince Zuko spat hotly. He had embarrassed him enough, but breaking these news to Kushai would be no simple task.

"The one who cleaned her room spotted a gas leak, it can kill her if she stays there throughout the night," Uncle Iroh knew this would calm down his outraged nephew.

"Aren't there any other rooms?" Prince Zuko held back his anger.

"I'm afraid not," Uncle Iroh walked away, a smile spreading on his face once the Prince could no longer see him.

"This won't be so easy, or maybe she doesn't mind?" Prince Zuko asked himself.

The three companions

"Finally land!" Katara exclaimed as Appa made a thump as he landed o the ground.

"FOOD!" Sokka jumped off Appa and run over to a peach tree, Momo right behind him.

"Good boy Appa," Aang praised his flying bison as he too jumped off.

Appa groaned a reply and laid down, just barely not squishing the little Lemur who was hungrily devouring his precious peach.

"Tomorrow we'll look for Prince Zuko's ship," Katara tried to get Sokka's attention. Sokka didn't care for one word that escaped her mouth, he was doing the same as Momo, if not stuffing more food into his mouth.

"Ok Katara," Aang replied for Sokka. Katara smiled at him, at least somebody cared about what she had to say.

Momo was going to grab a peach from Sokka's pile, but Sokka snatched up his peaches and growled at the Lemur.

Katara turned to see Sokka running around with his peaches, Momo close on his heels.

"GET YOUR OWN!" Sokka shouted at the little creature.

Katara rolled her eyes, Momo had so much in common, Sokka would never believe that though.

Katara sat down and found a peach that had fallen from a tree, might as well eat while I have food. We have a long day ahead.

AN: HOPE YA'LL LIKED IT! PLEEEEEASE REVIEW!


	10. Restless

**Restless**

AN: I'm sorry my chapters aren't so good anymore, or if they have been at all! BUT PLEASE REVIEW!

The 3 companions

"Sokka! WAKE UP! Get your lazy bum out of that sleeping bag!" Katara shouted at her brother who just groaned and turned on his other side.

"Sleep….," Sokka yawned and started snoring again.

'Hmm' Katara thought mischievously. She went over to a river and waterbended a stream of water over to the sleeping Sokka.

SPLASH!

"KATARA!" Sokka jumped up as he stared at his wet clothes.

"Oh, I'm sorry Sokka! Did I do that?" Katara teased.

"Wouldn't it be better to change into something else when you go swimming?" Aang walked up behind him as he started laughing.

"Gather your stuff, we're leaving," Sokka turned around and was so lucky as to crash into a tree.

"WHO PUT THAT TREE THERE!" Sokka kicked the tree, it was a bit harder than he had expected….

"OUCH!" Sokka hopped around on his foot.

Katara raised an eyebrow. She still couldn't believe they were related!

"Ok, enough exercise, we need to leave this Island before you drown and choke on a fish," Katara rolled her eyes.

"Oh, maybe your magic water would be responsible for that! After all, you have splashed me…." Sokka paused as he started counting on his fingers.

Sokka opened his mouth to finish, but he was once again soaking wet.

"6 times…….make that 7 now," Sokka grimaced as he climbed up on top of Appa.

Aang was already at the reins. "Ok, get ready for take-off!" The boy smiled widely as he gave the signal, 'yip yip', and the fluffy big monster was up in the air.

"Now, where do you suppose Zuko is?" Sokka asked, somewhat hoping Katara wouldn't know. Sokka was longing to rub something in her face.

"Well, last time we saw him, he was on Gamolyto Island. We tricked him by turning west and then when he thought we were going that way, we turned. So he is most likely around Tykaso," Katara concluded smartly.

"I knew that," Sokka tried to look smart, but ended up hitting his head on the saddle.

"Mhm…of course you did," Katara turned to Aang, she quickly scooted over to the boy.

"Hey Katara," Aang smiled at her warmly. He always said those words, and every time he did, Katara relaxed.

"Hello Aang," Katara replied in the same tone Aang had used.

"How cute!" Sokka tried to make a cute face.

"What?" Katara turned to face the idiot, uh, I mean boy! (Actually Sokka is not that much of an idiot….)

"Well, you and Aang do look good toge-" Sokka sank into the saddle as Katara gave him a threatening look.

Aang who had been staring in confusion now just laughed. "You guys fight a lot," Aang smiled.

"Naw, just about 132 times a day," Katara pointed out.

Sokka once again started counting on his fingers.

"Of course, somebody on this flying bison, don'tt know how to count…." Katara stared directly at Sokka, who just turned around with a 'hmph'.

Aang smiled, everything is normal….

Kushai

Kushai picked up the brush as she ran it through her hair, she would just love to go to bed right now. Which in fact she was going to!

Knock, knock, knock!

Kushai turned to open the door. Why would somebody be here at 10:00 P.M?

Kushai opened the door to see Prince Zuko shifting uncomfortably.

"Yes…?" Kushai hinted at him to talk.

"There's a gas leak….in your room…." Prince Zuko started out.

"Oh, ok…so that's what that smell was!" Kushai laughed.

"Well, it can be fatal if you sleep here," The Prince continued awkwardly.

"Oh, so where would you like me to move?" Kushai asked cheerily.

"Well, the only rooms you could move to are, my room, my Uncle's, and a guard's room," Prince Zuko got ready for an explosion, but instead, got a forever taking silence.

"Your….room?" She questioned after what seemed like 10 years.

"Or my Uncle's….but I don't trust the guards with you," Prince Zuko didn't even want to go there.

"Oh…" Kushai seemed dumbfounded.

"Your Uncle?" Kushai was ever the more dazzled.

"Trust me, I wouldn't….but it's your decision," Prince Zuko thought of sleeping in his Uncle's room, he shook his head. GROSS!

"I guess that leaves me no choice but to go with you," Kushai turned to get her stuff, her mouth still at gape.

Finally when Kushai was at the Prince's quarters, she closed her mouth.

"You can sleep over there, and I'll sleep over there," Prince Zuko pointed to the sides of the bed.

"Oh ok, but please don't tell me you snore," Kushai frowned.

"I MOST CERTAINLY DON'T!" the Prince stood tall.

"Sleep tight Kushai! And just wake him up if he snores, he does that all the time!" Uncle Iroh walked by their room and poked his head in.

"UNCLE!" Prince Zuko shouted, he most certainly DIDN'T SNORE!

"Umm, ok, as long as you don't hog the be-,"

"And if he hogs the bed, just push him off the bed," Uncle Iroh added as he quickly closed the door as a flame shot at him.

"Well, that most certainly explains a lot!" Kushai seemed to be accusing him.

"Whatever, just go to bed," Prince Zuko slid under the covers.

Kushai did the same, but she just couldn't go to sleep! She twisted and turned, side to side, practically up and down. She could swear she had sprained something the way she was shuffling around!

"You are making the bed shake more than it would during a hurricane for crying out loud!" Prince Zuko sat up in the bed, startling Kushai.

"Sorry," Kushai laid back in bed, trying hard not to move.

'Hey, this wasn't so bad!' Kushai thought to herself happily.

3 second later…..

'I CAN'T STAND THIS!' Kushai shot up from the bed, causing the Prince to fall off the bed.

"AGH! My moments of rest interrupted!" Prince Zuko's fists caught on fire.

"I'm sorry, but you are a firebender, and the bed becomes incredibly hot!" Kushai exclaimed.

"Well, sorry! The bed is awfully wet because you are a waterbender but I can mana-" Prince Zuko stopped, that sounded sick and wrong! He had just tried to argue back, but that was sick sounding…

"Ok, eww……I'm going to take a shower, k?" Kushai jumped out of bed and into the bathroom.

5 minutes later….

"EEK!" A voice ringed from the batroom.

Prince Zuko was once again interrupted from his sleep as the door shot open.

"You didn't tell me about the COOLD WATER!" Kushai stormed over to him, a towel rapped around her.

"Oh, oops," The Prince teased, he hadn't exactly forgotten…..

Uncle Iroh came walking in, concern on his face.

"Prince Zuko, it is much too early for you to-"

"UNCLE! That is sick!" Prince Zuko practically covered his eyes in disgust.

"Oh," his Uncle rubbed his neck embarrassingly.

"It was about that shower," Kushai gave the Prince a look, who was surprisingly staring at her. She realized that the towel didn't cover much and pulled it better around her.

"Oh, Prince Zuko, you should have told her! Kushai, I'm sorry. Since firebenders become so hot from the firebending, we have to cool off somehow. In this case, a cold shower," Uncle Iroh apologized.

"Ah, I see," Kushai frowned.

"I'll go change now," Kushai turned to the door and left.

Uncle Iroh gave his nephew a look, and too left.

AN: HOPE YA'LL LIKED IT! PLEEEEEEEEAAAAASE REVIEW!


	11. Thump, bonk, splash, oops!

**Thump, bonk, splash, oops!**

AN: Oh come on, is my story THAT bad! I seem to be getting like 5 reviews a month! Ok, no not really…but THANK YOU to those who DID review my story!

**Kushai**

Zzz….zzz…snore!

Kushai groaned as another snore escaped Prince Zuko's mouth. This had been going on through the whole night! And he said he didn't snore! Kushai had been waking him up like every 5 minutes, and she knew if she woke him up one more time he would burn her to ashes.

He was also hogging the bed, and had snatched the blanket from her again! About that, she had been waking him up every 7 minutes. So in other words, 2 minutes after she woke him up about the snoring.

Kushai had had enough of this! She quickly got out of bed and lay down on the floor, with a pillow covering her head, and more importantly, her ears!

The girl closed her eyes, and FINALLY got to close her eyes without one of those stupid snores!

**Next morning**

Prince Zuko found himself alone in the bed that morning. What the?

The Prince looked over to Kushai's side to find her lying on the floor, with….a pillow over her head…

"Looks like somebody lost track of where the bed was," Prince Zuko smirked as Kushai shot up from her sleeping position and hit the table her head had been under.

"ARGH! YOU PIG! That was the 36th time you woke me up!" Kushai clenched her fists. The Prince staring at her a little confused.

"YOU SNORE!" Kushai shouted at him angrily.

Prince Zuko frowned, "Just get up from the floor." The Prince was about to turn, but was interrupted by a thump. He looked around to see Kushai lying on the floor………..zzzzzz………..zzzzzzz…

'Hmmm…she is tired' Prince Zuko concluded, watching her sleeping body. Her curves were very….curved. What the…he was NOT supposed to be thinking like this.

An idea struck him, and he bent down to the floor, heated his hands….

"OUCH!" Kushai shot up onto the bed. The floor was burning hot! Not to mention red!

"MAKE THAT THE 37th time!" Kushai growled.

"It's time for breakfast," Prince Zuko left the room, but stopped once again.

BONK!

'Now what?' The Prince asked himself. He turned around, again, to see Kushai rubbing her head.

"I see you lost track of the door too," Prince Zuko teased and chuckled.

Kushai had walked right into the side of the door opening and hit her head. Aiaiaia….she had definitely not woken up on the right side of her bed….literally, she was ON the side of her bed…ok, the bed wasn't even hers for crying out loud!

"You get your spoiled little butt out the door before I loose track of what place HURTS!" Kushai pushed him out the door.

Kushai finally got to the room where they always ate, and got into fights. But she highly doubted that she was up to one of these fights.

"Good morning, Kushai, you look exhausted!" Uncle Iroh walked over to her in concern.

"Oh, I'm okay, I got a lot of sleep! 3 hours in fact. I mean, you do not want to see me when I only got 4 hours!" Kushai exclaimed as she picked up her fork to drink her tea.

"Um, the number 4 is greater than 3," Uncle Iroh became even more concerned as she poked her fork into her tea.

"Oh," Kushai noticed the fork and put it down, "I knew that."

"And what does happen when you only get 4 hours of sleep?" Uncle Iroh asked, fearing her answer.

"I always collapse, there was one time I got my face stuck in my soup," Kushai laughed, but her laughs became muffled as her face was flat in her cereal.

"Prince Zuko, what did you do to her?" Uncle Iroh was shocked. The man tried to pull the girl's head out of the bowl.

"I didn't do anything Uncle," Prince Zuko took a sip of his tea.

"I meant to do that!" Kushai pointed out as her face was finally out of the cereal bowl.

"That explains exactly how smart you are," Prince Zuko grinned, this could be fun! She had absolutely no commons sense!

"Thanks! Wait….oh, shut up!" Kushai realized that he had a point to his sarcasm. She didn't really have her brain with her today.

Prince Zuko raised an eyebrow, this was too funny!

"You better mouth your shut…I mean, shut your mouth! I'm pretty sure it was your lack of IQ that caused this" Kushai struggled with her words, but luckily she had come up with a comeback.

"Or maybe it was your sleep of lack," Prince Zuko laughed.

"That made no sense…oh…I knew that, agh, don't you need to go train!" Kushai exclaimed, hoping he'd leave before her brain fully shut down.

"Oh my, I lost track of time, Prince Zuko, get ready for training," Uncle Iroh said and left.

Prince Zuko gave her a last mocking look, and left.

"Pft…yeah, how funny you are Prince, funny indeed…" Kushai finished her bowl of cereal. Half actually, since most had ended up on the table after her little 'accident'.

Kushai pushed herself from the table and went to watch Prince Zuko train.

**The 3 companions**

"Are we there yet?" Sokka groaned, he acted as if he would die any second now.

"For the last time, NO! If we were, we would see Prince Zuko's ship!" Katara growled at her brother.

"Is that a ship?" Aang pointed at a black spot in the water, at least it looked like it was in the water.

"No, that's a bird…" Katara said as she had taken a look.

"Oh…" Aang rubbed his neck.

"Sheesh. You can't even tell the difference between a giant metal ship and a tiny bird!" Sokka exclaimed. "And he's the Avatar!" Sokka added in shock.

"Sokka, you can't count, and you also can't tell the difference between right and left" Katara shouted at her dumb brother.

Katara scooted over to Aang, "Don't listen to him Aang. I think you're doing great," Katara reassured.

"Thanks Katara," Aang sighed.

"HEY! It's a boat! This time I'm sure!" Aang called out, startling both Katara and Sokka.

Sokka turned around uninterested, Aang was probably just hallucinating. But when he looked, Aang had been right, it was a boat. And it looked much like Prince Zuko's!

"See Sokka, the Avatar can do anything," Katara smiled widely.

AN: PLEASE REVIEW!


	12. Painful Rescue

**Painful Rescue**

AN: Thank you for the reviews! The Last Female Firebender, thank you for bringing that up. I have been thinking about that too, he is a bit too….hyperish, haha, is that a word? No it's not, but now it is! I noticed how Prince Zuko laughed in the "Waterbending Scroll" as the ship of the pirates set sail, that is why I came up with the fact that he'd jump at the chance to rub something in people's faces. In this case, Kushai's….but thanks for bringing that up!

**The 3 companions**

"Make sure you land on the deck," Katara flinched every time it seemed he would miss the 'target'. While Sokka just sat there, mumbling something about how he would knock out the firebenders.

"It's ok Katara, Appa is a smart flying bison, he'll get it right," Aang reassured the girl, but found himself gasping every time he seemed to be falling out of course. It's not that easy to control a 10 ton flying bison!

"Yep, we're all gonna die," Sokka smiled dully.

"No we aren't Sokka! Aang knows what he's doi-i-ing," Katara was freaking out, but was trying hard not to show it. One false move and they'd be splashing into the water. With all their supplies! And Prince Zuko could easily catch them.

On deck

"Prince Zuko, I have never seen such a big bird in my life! Come and take a look!" Uncle Iroh glared in amazement at the 'bird'.

"I have no time to look at a bird Uncle. I am training," The Prince replied as the guard shot a fire at him, which Prince Zuko easily dodged. Even after the distraction. But in the corner of his eye, he saw exactly what his Uncle had been speaking of.

Prince Zuko froze………The Avatar.

"That is not a bird Uncle! It's the Avatar!" Prince Zuko ran to the railing.

Where Kushai had now been standing, more like wobbling in one spot, every now and then crashing to the metal floor. Her exhaustion had taken its toll on her. But Kushai wouldn't miss the chance to see the great Avatar! The girl jogged over to Prince Zuko and thrust herself at the railing before she would collapse.

"So it is true…I have believed you before, but this is…just amazing," Kushai interrupted Prince Zuko's thoughts.

"Kushai, get to your…my, room while I take care of this," Prince Zuko directed to her. But Kushai did not flinch.

"NOW!" Prince Zuko growled.

"Oh, why is that?" Kushai tilted her head. Was he concerned they would hurt her?

"Because…you'll get in my way," the boy lied, he had another reason….but was not going to tell.

"I won't, I am not an idiot, now let me live without an order!" Kushai took a step forward him, anger in her eyes. She would not get in his way, and if this was his reason, she was going to stand her ground.

"Foolish girl, do as I say!" Prince Zuko shouted forcefully, but mentally slapped himself soon enough, that had been wrong to say. Not that he cared! But he couldn't hide it, he did….

Kushai backed up many steps, he had…how..why! Kushai frowned, this was not the boy who had so gently kissed her. This was not the boy who had apologized so surprisingly to her….

"If that's how you feel, I will stay here, and join the Avatar! I will not take orders from you! I will not take your insults!" Kushai felt a tear trickle down her cheek. If he saw it, then it was fine….she didn't care.

Kushai turned on her heel, but walked only to the other side of deck. Prince Zuko couldn't afford to loose her! She had given him comfort, no!

CRASH!

Prince Zuko snapped out of this as he saw the bison…umm…buffalo..whatever it was, landed on deck.

"Let the girl go," Sokka took a step forward hoping to look brave. But forgetting that he was still on the bison, he crashed to the metal floor.

"Where is the Avatar?" Prince Zuko commanded, ignoring the other boy.

"I'm right here, and I'm not dead…" Came a wobbling Aang from under Appa. Yes, he had fallen off, and Appa had almost crushed him. Well, Appa had landed on him, but Aang was ok, because he had used his airbending to lift the weight by much.

"Aang!" Katara ran over to help him, who had landed a good couple of feet away from the bison. Sokka was the only one who had been able to hold on, yes, he looked awfully pathetic clinging to Appa's fur. But what other choice did he have? Fall off and crack his head open?

Katara was shot back by a grasping fire…..Prince Zuko…

"KATARA!" Aang forgot his pain and quickly ran to the girl's aid, but had also been knocked back by another deadly fire.

Prince Zuko grinned mentally, now he would regain his honor….finally! The Prince stood up to shoot a fire that would knock the Avatar unconscious, but had now, also gotten thrown back by something.

"I thought there was good in you, but I was wrong!" Kushai screeched at the Prince, tears trailing down her red cheeks, her blue eyes trembling. The girl put down her stream of water she had so hatefully thrown at the Prince. Kushai collapsed in exhaustion. Waterbending had nearly drained her of all her energy. Kushai pushed her way off the ground, now wobbling back and forth. She fell again, but this time she was able to pull herself up by the railing.

Prince Zuko stared at her, painfully shocked. Not because he was hurt physically, but because of her harsh words. They pierced through him like daggers, opening wounds that hadn't even fully recovered. And those hateful eyes, staring into his, they were shocking! The blue, peaceful eyes had no calming look like they used to, only hate, sadness, and anger. Also, the look of exhaustion on her face and her entire body concerned him.

"Get on Appa, quick!" Sokka's voice rang through the silence.

"I will! Good bye!" Kushai glanced at the Prince, but froze as she saw the pain in his eyes. The amber eyes were quivering, as if he couldn't control them. He trembled, trying hard to hold in the ton of tears he for many years had tried to hold back. But now, there were many more that were threatening their way out.

"Please hurry," Katara pulled her out of the trance, "We aren't safe here!"

"Coming…" Kushai turned, a last tear making its way down. She wouldn't cry….no she wouldn't…

Prince Zuko tried to stand up, he needed to stop the Avatar, but the pain was holding him down.

"No, Uncle! Shoot him down!" Prince Zuko yelled with the last of strength he had. But reconsidered this, Kushai could be severely hurt!

His Uncle was also thinking about this, luckily he brought it up so the Prince wouldn't have to.

"What about Kushai? We can't hurt her, she doesn't have much of a choice, leave her be," Uncle Iroh turned to his nephew. Oh no….Prince Zuko had never been in worse state than this. Not because of any severe cuts or broken bones. But his eyes were dull, lost, blank from all but sadness….no, the Prince had had too much pain, no more God….No more…

AN: Aww, sad….sorry, if this made you cry than tell me! Because I want to knowif I made people feel emotional. PLEASE REVIEW!


	13. Tears and Thoughts

**Tears and Thoughts**

AN: I hope this ends up as a long one! Please review! PLEEASE!

**Kushai and the others**

"Kushai, are you ok?" Katara questioned Kushai, concern lingering in her eyes.

"I'm fine…thanks for saving me," Kushai smiled halfheartedly, saving her? If that was saving her then what was betraying? What she had just done to Prince Zuko….that was what she called betraying…

"It's ok, we have more room on Appa for another person," Katara beamed kindly.

"So, what is your name?" Katara scooted over by Kushai.

"I'm Kushai, you are?" Kushai quickly pushed a tear away from her cheek. The last one she had cried when she was saved in fact.

"I'm Katara, the annoying one over there is Sokka, and THAT is Aang," Katara pointed at Aang as if he was royalty. That was the Avatar? He was just a goofy kid, right?

Aang was playing with Momo, a game Kushai didn't quite understand….Was it take pebble, take it back and throw….or was it 'give me that pebble, it's mine!'?

"Aang, is he….?" Kushai trailed off, in case this was wrong to bring up.

"He's the Avatar," Katara announced proudly.

"I'd never thought he'd be so….,"

"Young?" Katara smiled, "He is 12, but technically he is 112," Katara explained.

Kushai's eye twitched, ok….he is 12 but technically he is 112….I got it! Ok, I'm so lost….

"He was in an iceberg for 100 years!" Katara 'unclouded' her point.

"Oh, ok…." Kushai once again began her brain storming.

"And that guy over there, is he your brother?" Kushai asked, noticing the similarities between them. Because of their looks, not their brains!

"Yeah, he's my dumb brother," Katara laughed.

"HEY!" Sokka shouted at his sister.

"Ok, what kind of bender are you?" Kushai asked the boy curiously.

"You mean those people who do magic tricks. I'm not," Sokka's voice cracked again, and he struggled to control it.

"It's not magic! It is waterbending!" Kushai and Katara replied at the same time, causing Sokka to back up a step or two.

"Oh great, another Katara, just what we need," Sokka mumbled rather to himself than to the rest. But Kushai heard, and giggled softly.

Sokka glanced at her, Kushai was smiling, a real smile. Not one of those forced smiles that he had seen a while ago.

"How long were you at that ship?" Sokka interrupted Kushai, causing her to stop giggling immediately. The same look appeared on her face, the sad, angry look that she had had when she was rescued.

"About a week," Kushai snapped, and turned a little to the left. A tender spot, Sokka realized.

"Hmm…you didn't by any chance hear Zuko's plans to capture Aang did you?" Katara joined the conversations. Sokka was rolling his eyes, she didn't like Aang? Yea right….

"No…" Kushai fought her tears. Don't cry Kushai, don't cry….it's ok….it'll be alright….OK! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD STOP CRYING! The girl shouted mentally at herself as she felt something wet on her cheek. Oh great….

Kushai picked up a stream of water and splashed herself in the face.

Sokka and Katara stared at her puzzled. Even Aang's attention was brought to her now.

"Umm, my face was feeling a little wet…I MEAN dirty, ah, I mean dry!" Kushai slapped her face in frustration. Put yourself together! I know you're sad and tired, but seriously! Splash yourself in the face because your face is feeling too wet!

"Um…ok, well, I guess you are a little like Aang too…." Sokka concluded.

"Well, actually, that's good! He is the Avatar after all!" Kushai sat up proudly.

"Trust me, that isn't good…"Sokka looked disgusted at her.

"Don't take his advice, he doesn't know what he's saying," Katara poked his brother, laughing at Sokka's reflexes.

A cracked shout….his voice still cracked, it was hilarious! For one second it'd sound normal, then the next it would sound like a 7 year old girl!

"His voice still cracks!" Kushai burst out laughing.

"'high pitch' it does….'low pitch' not!" Sokka growled at himself. Why did his voice always crack when people brought that up!

"I can tell…."Kushai smiled. But then, yet again….she frowned….'Prince Zuko'….

**Prince Zuko**

"Are there any reported news on the Avatar?" Prince Zuko walked up on deck where his Uncle was peacefully drinking his tea.

His Uncle sighed, "Prince Zuko, you need to rest your eyes, all you have been doing is working to find the Avatar. I'm sure Kushai is fine, they'll take-"

"LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS!" Prince Zuko shouted furiously. Anger raged through his body, he didn't care about Kushai….no he didn't…

"You don't need to hide your feelings nephew," Uncle Iroh continued.

"I don't care for the girl Uncle. All I want is my honor, and the key to that is capturing the Avatar!" Prince Zuko growled. He didn't care for this girl, He didn't need her, and he never liked her. Why would he anyways? She was just a liar, heartbreaker, stupid girl. But deep in his heart, he knew this wasn't how he felt. But anger towards her was true, or was it the need for her? The need to hold her, the need for her kindness maybe?

She had broken his heart, did he really want that?

"Ok, but get some rest. If you want to be in good shape, I suggest you hit the hay," Uncle Iroh took another sip of his tea, and left.

Prince Zuko made sure his Uncle was out of sight and walked over to the railing. Memories ran through him, good memories for once.

"_Is the sun really that scary?"_

_Huh? Oh, no, I'm just…."_

"_Relax,"_

"_That time….in the water…"_

"_Oh….my mom….she died that way…."_

"_Oh, I'm sorry."_

"_It's ok, I'm just a bit sensitive when it comes to my mom," _

"_But I shouldn't be complaining, you haven't seen your family in 2 years,"_

"_My father never really cared. I lost my mom at the age of 6, somebody killed her to get revenge against my father,"_

"_Your father is dead wrong, if he can't appreciate you….then, he probably doesn't know how to love,"_

"_Do you really mean that?"_

"_Of course I do. You are doing the work an adult would normally struggle with, plus you have a good heart, I know you do. At first…."_

Then there was that kiss…..

Prince Zuko shook his head, if he had ever felt so much love it had been then. Kushai was just like her mom, calm, beautiful, smart, funny, and something he had always valued. Loving….

"_I thought there was good in you, but I was wrong!"_

"_Get on Appa, quick!"_

"_I will! Good bye!"_

Prince Zuko trembled, playing that moment over and over, He didn't want to, but it seemed as if he was looking for a clue. To that she still cared about him, only a little bit. And then it hit him, that time she looked at him before she mounted the creature….she had looked so surprised at Prince Zuko, like she regretted her words. Realizing the pain she had caused him. If this was true, then lord….please let her be ok…..please let her return…to me…

Prince Zuko watched the waves, it seemed he was at the beginning again. Up and down….up down….but this time there was not interruption from his Uncle, and no Kushai to care for…

**Kushai on Appa**

"Katara, have you ever loved someone?" Kushai's voice sliced through the silence, causing Katara to jump a little. All of a sudden, Katara gripped for something, something around her neck, panic in her eyes. But whatever it was she gripped for wasn't there.

"Aang, Sokka! We forgot to get our stuff back!" Katara shook vigorously, a tear making its way down her cheek. Kushai wanted to slap herself for whatever she had done, and swipe that tear away! They were pain in a liquid form, causing pain. But actually, once you had cried, they caused you a little happiness. Maybe they weren't so bad?

Sokka interrupted her insane thoughts, "My boomerang!"

"My necklace," Katara once again gripped for the thing, which she disappointedly couldn't find. She cried several tears.

"I'm sorry, I guess this was the wrong time to ask," Kushai apologized, feeling Katara's emotions.

"It's not your fault, we forgot after all," Katara recovered a little, but the tears were still making streaks down her face. She definitely needed more comfort than Kushai did, so Kushai decided to take action. More like talking quietly and soothing…

"Katara, please stop crying. I hate to see my rescuer upset," Kushai hugged Katara comfortingly. Kushai pulled away, smiling at Katara kindly.

"Do you want to tell me what this is about, sometimes it helps," Kushai questioned the girl. Since when did she become a physiatrist? Oh well, it didn't matter, as long as she could help…

"Prince Zuko has my necklace…….it belonged to my mom…she was killed in a fire nation raid.." Katara sniffled, and let one more tear down her cheek. But then she smiled at Kushai.

"See, sometimes it helps. And one way or the other we'll get your necklace back," Kushai leaned against the saddle. She felt much better now, having helped Katara and everything…

"HEY! What about my boomerang?" Sokka made Kushai jump out of the saddle.

"Oh yeah,…um….good luck with that!" Kushai teased and chuckled at Sokka's enraged face.

"I'm just joking, we'll get that too," She smiled warmly at Sokka, realizing exactly what this looked like she stopped and turned over on her side to get some sleep. Some sleep that would correct her insane brain hopefully!

10 hours later….

"Kushai, I don't mean to wake you up but eh….WAKE UP!" Sokka yelled at Kushai who groaned loudly.

"Fine…" Kushai frowned. But wasn't Sokka the lazy one?

"Wait a minute, something is up, Katara said you were the lazy one?" Kushai raised an eybrow at Sokka.

"Not anymore, you beat Sokka by 3 hours!" Katara added in amazement.

"Well last night I only got 3 hourse of sleep because of Prince Zuko, uh I mean…um, I just got 3 hours of sleep, and I was insane!" Kushai mentally slapped herself. Go Kushai…you still don't have you brain back! How much sleep do I need?

"Prince Zuko?" Sokka made a sneaky face, mocking and sneaky.

"No, I mean…uh," Kushai frustratedly hit the saddle, she'd lost this one. By major points!

"So, what was the truth?" Sokka grinned evilly.

"I had to share a bed with him because my room had a gas leak that would kill me if I slept there, and I didn't want to sleep with Uncle Iroh because-"

"Ok ok, back up!" Katara sorted out her wild thoughts,

"You slept with Zuko?" Came Aang's voice.

"Hm..this seems like news," Kushai mumbled. Yeah, I guess they were thinking of all the crazy possibilities.

"Did he…" Katara was cautious about this question.

"HECK NO!" Kushai exclaimed, she knew that had been coming…but seriously!

"He snored!" Kushai pointed out.

"Oh…hehe…ok," Sokka looked relieved. Why would he look relieved, Kushai wondered. It didn't matter any to him did it?

"Well, we need to stop and get more supplies," Aang interrupted hoping to change the subject.

"Oh you're right," Katara checked a bag for food, nothing but mere crumbs.

"Ok, get ready for landing!" Aang shouted to the three. He started pulling on Appa's reins so he'd land but somebody quickly stopped him.

"Maybe we should find land first?" Kushai smiled at the younger boy.

"Oh..oops," Aang stopped pulling on the reins and smiled innocently.

"Well, let's start looking," Kushai turned over to the side of Appa and stared at the ocean……..This could take a while………….

AN: PLEASE REVIEW!


	14. Just a Market Trip

**Just a Market Trip**

AN: PLEASE REVIEW! Pretty please Anime Aang eyes!

**Kushai and the others**

"You guys can go shop for stuff, I'll go take care of some important business," Sokka acted as if he was the leader again, which bothered Katara.

"Oh what, stuff your face with food?" Katara shook her head. Kushai laughed in the background, but quickly shut her yap as Sokka glared at her offended.

"No…well…That's none of your business!" Sokka shouted defensively at his sister. He turned around and stomped off in the direction of what looked like a fruit stand. Momo was already hugging a peach as his precious treasure, but soon enough found him running away from an enraged salesman.

"Momo, what did I tell you about stealing food?" Aang drifted off after the mischievous lemur who was holding on to his precious fruit for dear life.

"This seems like a good time to look for some clothes, don't you agree Kushai?" Katara turned to the girl.

"Yeah, these fire nation clothes are making even Momo stare at me!" Kushai giggled as she pulled on the dress hidden under the coat Katara gave her. It would be real pleasant if a girl came prancing into the village looking like she was from the fire nation!

"Haha….no offense, but you do look like a terrorist!" Katara yelped as a flying fruit flew over her head.

Kushai chuckled, "Call me that again and it'll be a melon!"

Katara smiled and opened her mouth as if to say it again, "Ok, enough fooling around. Oh look, there are some nice dresses over there! And look at that price!" Katara walked over to the store, observing a beautifully made dress.

"I have to admit, that dress isn't half bad!" Kushai nodded interestedly, it was blue with little waves of turquoise on it. And up on the collar was the picture of a stream of water ending in a beautifully, dark blue, stone. The sleeves were long with Japanese written on them.

"Too bad you won't get to wear it," came a voice behind them and a frightening laugh.

They turned around, but found themselves wobbling to the ground….

**Aang and Momo**

"Finally! I thought I would have to chase you all the way to Husak village just to get that peach," Aang wiped a trickle of sweat away from his forehead and pat the lemure. "I don't blame you Momo, you haven't eaten in a while, but please give me the peach," Aang stretched out his hand.

Momo sat down disappointedly as he gave Aang the peach.

"Good boy Momo," Aang smiled at the lemur. "Now, let's return the peach to its owner and find Katara, Sokka, and Kushai," Aang got up on his legs as Momo ran in front.

**Sokka **

"Katara, Kushai…where were you? You were supposed to be here 10 minutes ago!" Sokka scolded the airbender as he approached.

"Sorry Sokka, I was trying to get a peach back from Momo," Aang apologized and started looking around for the others.

"I'm not the only one who's late at least," Aang pointed out to Sokka who was increasingly growing a worried expression.

"They should have been here 15 minutes ago, something's up…" The boy started searching more frantically, asking salesmen if they had seen the two girls….and was lucky enough to stumble across the salesman Momo had stolen the peach from.

"That lemur of yours is bad luck boy, bad luck!" The crazed man pointed accusingly at Momo who just tilted his head as if he had no idea what the man was blabbering about.

"Agh…Aang, did you hear where they were going?" Sokka turned to the Avatar, panick in his eyes.

"I think that they were looking for clothes….I saw them head over there," Aang replied quickly with the same traumatizing thoughts as Sokka had.

Sokka ran over to where the airbender had pointed, but was devastated to find the jacket Kushai had borrowed, laying on the ground.

"Oh no…wait Sokka, I'm sure she just got hot and took-"

"This is all my fault! I shouldn't have let them wander by themselves! Who knows where they are, or if they're even alive! I Knew my dream was a warning Aang, I'm sure a watermelon is already gnawing at Katara and-"

"Sokka, watermelons don't have mouths….but it's not your fault Sokka, if it's anybody's fault, it's mine. I'm the Avatar, and it's my job to keep...stuff……..safe," Aang never really got exactly what a better word for stuff would be, but that wasn't really a problem at the moment.

"We need to track them down somehow, I think those are footprints…fire soldier footprints! Not many shoes have that point at the tip," Aang poked a finger into the dirt, as if that was going to help! Aang growled at himself, you are the Avatar, put yourself together!

"Wait Aang, if those are fire nation soldiers..this might all be a trap. Notice that the footprints are deeper than ours even if we stomp. They must be trying to make a trail for us to follow…" Aang froze, what was Sokka saying? He had sounded so smart….ok, something is wrong!

"Um…yeah, I knew that," Aang smiled defensively, but wiped it off as he took another point of view at this situation….Katara.

**Kushai and Katara**

Katara shot up as clinking noises pierced her ears. She winced as her head thundered violently, where was she?

Katara stood up, but froze as she saw a shadow in the darkness. Prince Zuko…Katara stood up as she noticed he wasn't moving and found a club in her backpack.

WHACK!

"Oof….OUCH!" A shriek rang in the room, bouncing off every wall, seemingly reflecting into Katara's ears only.

"Kushai?" Katara walked cautiously over to the figure rubbing its head.

"Stay back! I'm warning y- Katara?" Kushai stood up and observed the person hovering above her.

"Kushai! I thought you were Prince Zuko!" Katara let her breath out in relief.

"Oh…that explains why you whacked me on the head! How idiotic of me to think you had just gone insane…." Kushai's relief turned to worry, "Katara, it's great that we're together in this, but we still don't know where we are, why we're, and who caught us."

"It's so dark, I can't really see anything…" Katara wandered a little around the room but then she stopped. "I heard clinking noises Kushai…" Katara trailed off to let Kushai try to figure out the rest.

Kushai also stopped dead in her tracks as she realized. "We're on a fire navy ship….."


	15. Where? Deal! What

**Trapped and Confused**

AN: My story seems to be little appealing….any suggestions on how to make it better? Oh, by the way, the rating has increased and you might have noticed why.

**Kushai and Katara**

"It must be Prince Zuko who captured us," Katara dropped to the floor disappointedly. If that was true, then why was the boat moving? Wouldn't he still be looking for Aang? Or was it that old fashioned trick that meant to take his friends and lead him straight to his enemy?

"No….it couldn't be….." Kushai shook in disbelief. How could Prince Zuko do this to her? How had she gotten into this mess?

"Kushai? Are you alright?" Katara asked with concern. The younger girl walked over to Kushai and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"No Katara…Prince Zuko wouldn't…he wouldn't take me here…" The girl put her face in her hands as she stifled sobs.

"Was that why you asked me that question? If I had ever been in love? You love him don't you?" Katara asked, taken aback by her own voice. Oh no…would she betray her? Would she just leave Aang, her, and Sokka for Prince Zuko?

"No…I don't…I hate him…I hate him…hate..," Kushai struggled against her will, she'd break this spell that the Prince had put upon her. She'd break it in half, and throw it back at that pompous, stuck-up, Prince!

"Is that really how you feel? Great, now we have something in common."

Kushai and Katara turned to find the source of the voice. Kushai stroked a tear away from her cheek and tried har to hide her puffy, red eyes. But it was sort of hard to miss them as her eyes widened into huge marbles.

"You're not Prince Zuko," Katara winced, oh great…there are more people looking for Aang. Not that she didn't know that practically the whole fire nation was after him. But on boat and searching?

"Thank you for noticing. It would be quite insulting to compare me to a banished Prince," Commander Zhao snickered menacingly. This was no man to mess with Kushai realized. But wait…maybe this man knew to Prince Zuko's banishment..

"Why was he banished?" Kushai stood up bravely. She was going to get the answer for this. Yes she was, no matter how threatening this man looked.

"Oh, that doesn't matter. He was just being his foolish se-"

"You will answer my question!" Kushai stormed on, eyes flaring. Being with Prince Zuko so much had taught her how to become angry and look threatening. But this wasn't because of learning, this was anger that had swelled up inside at the man, this was total rage! When she got this rage, she was dangerous!

"My, you are brave to give me an order. But you should be lucky that you prove useful to me, or I would have killed you by now," The man walked over to the girl. "Tell me, is Prince Zuko fond of you? Like you are of him?"

"This interests you in no matter! I will repeat my question, why was he banished?" Kushai took a step towards him, this time without backing up.

"ARGH! You are foolish as the Prince! You have no respect for people of higher caste than you!" Comander Zhao growled and grabbed her arm. Kushai could feel his hand becoming hot and realized he was burning her skin. She yelped, jumping back many feet, only to hit the back of her head on the wall.

"That should hopefully teach you some manners to commander of the fire nation. Next time, think before you act!" Commander Zhao hissed at Kushai and turned around to Katara. "I hope you have more common sense than her. You see, if you treat me like you should, we will get along fine."

Katara grimaced, this reminded her of the Commander in the jail when Katara had helped the earthbenders. She couldn't stand these people, but was lucky enough to be able to control theurge to slap him across the face.

Commander Zhao gave Kushai a last look, turned on his heel and stomped out the door. Locking theit securely after him.

"URGH! How dare he!" Kushai flailed her good arm in the air, and kicked the door furiously.

"Kushai, calm down. Please show me you arm," Katara walked cautiously over to the enraged girl. She tried to avoid the flailing arms and legs, but at last Kushai calmed down. She fell to the floor with a 'thump'.

"Can I see you arm?" Katara questioned calmly. Kushai sighed and reached her hand out for Katara to see. Katara gave out a small squeak as she saw the burn. It wasn't severe, but it looked painful! Katara got out the canteen of water she had been carrying and carefully waterbended it to clean the burn.

"…Ouch…echkkefsf..ksdh…." Kushai twitched and yelped as the burn seemed to, once again, catch on fire. But it was quite the contrary.

"Ooh…I'm sorry! I'm trying to help it, but at the moment it seems like the opposite is taking affect," Katara apologized frantically.

"It's ok…it's not your fault…I shouldn't have argued with him," Kushai sighed in defeat. As much as she hated to admit it, she was not in proper shape to challenge Commander of the fire nation. At least not now.

"I can't believe it…Prince Zuko was banished? I know he wanted some sort of honor back…but he was banished?" Katara asked in disbelief. That's why he needed to capture Aang….the Avatar. It was the only way to restore his honor?

"Yes…I didn't exactly know either. Even if it was hinted a little when I was on the ship," Kushai thought for a little while. No wonder he was so….angry.

"Kushai, you should rest. Hopefully it'll heal quickly," Katara gestured to a mat in the corner of the prison cell.

"Thanks Katara, and I swear, we will get out of this mess. And when we do, I'll show that Commander what happens when he messes with us!" Kushai smiled a little. She looked at her burn that was now covered in some cloth Katara had found in her bag and touched it gently. "Thanks again Katara, without you here….I would be nothing. And this burn would be killing me, I don't know how to heal burns whatsoever!" Kushai giggled a little at her own stupidity, then she crawled over to the mat and soon was asleep.

**Aang and Sokka**

"NO! Turn right, I mean left! I mean….TURN THAT WAY!" Sokka pointed here and there as Aang started sweating frantically.

"Umm Sokka….which way is 'that way'?" Aang questioned innocently as he stopped tugging on Appa's reins. "And could you please calm down? I'm getting a bit nervous, and Appa agrees. Don't you Appa?" Aang bent down to the fluffy monster who sounded a groan in agreement.

"You're right Aang. I'm sorry, but Katara and Kushai might be in big trouble! Who knows what Prince Zuko has done to them! He might be starving them, drowning them, burning them….AGH! AANG, GET APPA TO MOVE FASTER!" Sokka's calmness advanced to his usual protective habit.

"Ah…Just a little longer Appa. Prince Zuko can't be that far away…" Aang sighed and patted Appa. (Indeed he isn't…)

**Prince Zuko's quarters**

Knock, knock, knock!

Prince Zuko ignored the knocking as he realized it was just his Uncle. He continued meditating, but found the candle's light growing as the knocks didn't stop. The Prince shot up in frustration and the candles flared dangerously.

"WHAT IS IT UNCLE?" Prince Zuko shouted angrily and threw open the door to see Uncle Iroh's fist right in his face, ready to knock once again.

Prince Zuko swat the fist out of his face.

"The Avatar's here to see you," Uncle Iroh prompted uninterestedly and yawned. "I'm going to get some tea…." The retired General walked off to his own room and left Prince Zuko standing therein confusion. But not for long, the Prince set a run for the deck where once again, the weird looking creature was standing. While the bald kid was standing there with a determined look on his face, the other boy was staring into space, but soon realized that the Prince was there.

"Where are they?" Sokka was the first one to speak.

'Where are who?' Prince Zuko wondered, but pushed away the thought.

"I see you finally came to your senses, hiding from me was never going to work," Prince Zuko took a step towards the Avatar and got into a fighting stance.

"That's not why we're here. Let them go, they never did anything to you!" Aang once again confused the Prince with this.

Princ Zuko shot a fire blast at the boy, who just jumped into the air to avoid it.

"We won't hurt you if you just surrender Kushai and Katara to us," Sokka reasoned, and this time wasn't bluffing! Even though it was very tempting to whack Prince Zuko on the head with his…boomerang. Oh…that he didn't have…Sokka realized.

"AND, our stuff back…" Sokka frowned as he realized he had nothing to attack or protect himself with.

Prince Zuko stared in confusion, "I don't know where your friends are! Now, fight you coward!" Prince Zuko shouted, but then remembered his banishment….

"Please Father, I only had the fire nation's best interest at heart. I'm sorry I spoke out of turn!"

"You will fight for your honor."

"I meant you no disrespect. I am your loyal son!"

"Rise and fight Prince Zuko."

"I won't fight you."

"You _will_ learn respect," Ozai said coldly. "And suffering will be your teacher."

Prince Zuko shut his eyes as he remembered the fire blast aimed right towards him and the pain when the fire touched his face.

"Wait, you're kidding right?" Sokka opened his mouth at gape. If he wasn't kidding, then they had walked right into the trap. Nice Sokka….nice…

"I DON'T LIE!" The words slipped Prince Zuko's mouth. He was tired of people calling him a traitor and such.

"GAH!" Sokka ducked as a fire came speeding in his direction. Sokka then sat down and started hitting his head on the deck.

Prince Zuko stared at Sokka, "What is he doing? Agh…never mind," Prince Zuko shook his head.

"But if they aren't here…where are they?" Aang asked anyone who was listening.

"Commander Zhao…" Prince Zuko froze for a second. KUSHAI! Prince Zuko all of a sudden turned around and ran to the navigator's room. "Find Commander Zhao's ship," Prince Zuko ordered harshly.

"But we don't know whe-"

"FIND HIM!" Prince Zuko interrupted, he looked out the window to see the Avatar mounting the beast. "NO!" Prince Zuko shouted, nearly startling the navigator out of his shoes.

He ran outside to the Avatar and pulled Sokka off, who had been trying to get up on Appa as quickly as he could.

"You aren't going anywhere!" Prince Zuko snickered as he pushed Sokka into one of the guards.

"Leave him alone!" Aang commanded as he flew up into the air, landing in front of the Prince with a blast of wind that pushed Prince Zuko back 2 feet.

"Surrender yourself, and I won't hurt him," Prince Zuko stopped for a second thought. They could find Commander Zhao's ship quicker than he could. And Commander Zhao could easily capture the Avatar once he came to rescue his friends. He had to prevent that!

"You're looking for your friends…Commander Zhao has them. I will make a deal with you. Lead me to him and I won't hurt you or your friend, and I will let you escape, but only once," Prince Zuko looked at the airbender.

"…….Deal," Aang nodded, but then thought over how it would be odd to go on a wild goose chase when you didn't even know what you were looking for. And more importantly….all alone…unless Momo and Appa counted that is.

"But there is one problem…I don't know what I'm looking for, and I also don't have anybody to help me," Aang turned to the Prince questioningly.

"Is your…animal…faster than this boat?" Prince Zuko asked, to Aang the question was totally out of the blue.

"Yes….why?" Aang raised an eyebrow, he didn't like wherever Prince Zuko was going with this.

"I'll go with you," Prince Zuko couldn't believe a word he was saying. But he needed to rescue Kushai….and he couldn't let Commander Zhao capture the Avatar!

"…………Say what?" Sokka wriggled in the guard's grasp. He couldn't believe his own ears.

"You heard me. It's the only way, there are many fire navy boats out here. There's no way for you to tell which one is Commander Zhao's" Prince Zuko hissed at Sokka. It was embarrassing enough to sit next to the Avatar without trying to capture him. It's not every day you see Prince of the fire nation sitting by the Avatar on a flying…cow? Um, that didn't matter…

"Ok…but Appa won't like it!" Sokka yelled, clearly offended that 'he' was going to take Sokka's place.

"Just don't hurt my friends…" Aang sighed, he didn't like this idea at all. What if he was lying? What if he pushed Aang off? Or Momo for that matter….and what if he betrayed them and did hurt Sokka...Kushai, or Katara?

"Quit your thinking before I decide to burn your friend to ashes," Prince Zuko hissed at Aang who immediately hopped on Appa.

Prince Zuko stared a second at the thing, and wondered how to get up. Sokka had yearned for a moment to rub something in his face so-

"The tail," Sokka grinned as he put a little 1 under his score table that he kept in his head.

"Pft…I can get up any way I want, but seeing that it is how you usually get up," Prince Zuko frowned as he walked up to the beast….what was he doing there…?...

AN: Did you like it? It took me like 3 hours to write this! PLEEEEEEEEEASEEEEEEEEEE REVIEW!


	16. With the Enemy

**With the enemy**

AN: crazyaboutavatar, I know what you mean. But see, Prince Zuko also wants to go along with Aang because Commander Zhao would most likely be able to take the Avatar as prisoner. And he needs the Avatar to regain his honor after all. And he couldn't risk Aang escaping him and loosing Kushai. And Katara was crazy enough to go back and get her necklace, but also save the girl (Since she is after all very caring). And about Kushai teaching Aang watebending was going to happen later on in the story. And that is pretty much it. Thank you for pointing this out, so I could try to clear it up a bit. (If it at all worked that is….)

**Prince Zuko, and Sokka later on**

"Why can't I just come along? This Commander Cao, or what's his name, has my sister as prisoner. I should be the one to save her! And Appa trusts me much more than he trusts you! You don't even know what to do if Appa sneezes on you!" Sokka blabbered on as Prince Zuko finally was atop Appa. The last comment was quickly stricken off the list.

"Because your blabbering is deafening," The Prince spat as his hands flew to his ears. "Make this thing move before I burn up your friend!" Prince Zuko could feel small puffs of smoke breathed out.

"Ok, ok! I'm sorry Sokka, but I suggest you listen to him in this round," Aang's voice softened throughout the distance as if increased between Appa and Sokka.

"Oh, just great! Goofy kid and the maniac to the rescue! Could this get any worse!" Sokka squeaked as the guard pushed him at a door.

"General Iroh, sir, where would you like me to take the prisoner?" The guard questioned a man with a tea kettle in his left hand, and a cup in the other.

"Prisoner? This must have been my nephew's doing," The General sighed. But looked up to hear muffled 'pft's' and 'shshaha's'.

"What is so funny?" The man asked Sokka , whose face was explode ready.

"No…tee…pft…shshaha…thin….HAHAHAHAH!" Sokka fell to the floor as the guard struggled against the weight. As embarrassing as it was to the guard, it wasn't enough. He tripped over Sokka and fell right in front of the General. The man scuffled up quickly, as Sokka just pushed himself up lazily.

"So, then why are you laughing?" Iroh continued on, with a puzzled and annoyed expression. Was it the tea he was drinking? Was it the clothes? Or did he have toilet paper stuck to his shoe again…?

"Prince Zuko…haha…is..pft…YOUR NEPHEW…?" Sokka once again got into his giggle fit, struggling against the vein of laughter tingling at his mouth.

"Yes he is my nephew. Is there something wrong with that?" The man raised an eyebrow, but could feel a wave of relief wash over him. So, it wasn't toilet paper…

"No, nothing. Nothing at all," Sokka smiled innocently, as he got to the excruciating task of holding in his laughter.

"Hm…ok then. Well, would you like some tea? And maybe some chicken soup…?" Iroh sat down in a chair as he nodded in approval for the guard to leave.

"Well….OK!" The boy smiled eagerly at Iroh. Iroh's thoughts turned back to his nephew.

"You don't supposedly know where my nephew has gone do you?" The old man questioned as he searched the room and out the door with his eyes.

"Oh, he went with Aang to save somebody," Sokka yawned uninterestedly, which is no new task for Sokka. But the boy suddenly realized the fact that 'Zuko was with Aang', on their way to save Katara and Kushai.

"Haha. That was truly a good joke, but now, really, where is he?" Iroh chuckled a couple of more laughs, but found a creeping frown on his face as he looked over at Sokka's puzzled face.

"He really did go with the bald kid…to save somebody you say?" The General scooted over to Sokka, and prepared for the story.

**On top of Appa**

"So….where did you tell the guard to take Sokka?" Aang shifted uncomfortably, looking straight forward. Not daring to lock with those flaming eyes.

"I didn't," Prince Zuko replied shortly, seemingly calm, but in his mind was a hurricane of thoughts. The Prince cursed a line of bad words at himself in his head, realizing the guard would most likely go to Iroh to get directions. And with that he would know the whole story.

"Ok…" Aang nodded as he pulled on the reins once more after a simple point in direction from Prince Zuko.

Momo who had been sitting there quietly, sneaked up to the Prince. In a matter of seconds Momo had jumped up on his head.

"What is that?" Prince Zuko hissed as he pulled the lemur of his head. Momo tilted his head, it was his little, innocent face.

"Oh, that's Momo, he's a winged lemur. He's really nice," Aang cooed to Momo, trying to calm him after the Prince's outburst.

"Keep on heading North for about 5 more minutes. Then go Northwest," Prince Zuko directed to Aang, who nodded, but then turned around quick enough.

"Northeast…umm…would be that way right?" Aang rubbed his neck, as a drop of sweat made it's way down on his forehead. It was stressing being with someone that had such a dangerous temper.

"…..," Silence.

"Well, it's not like there are anybody to teach me this! Except for Katara, but she isn't here," Aang answered the silence with a defensive, but weak little outburst.

"I see, is it possible I steer this thing?" Prince Zuko sighed, there was no way this boy was going to get them to Commander Zhao's ship without heading the opposite way, and all the way around the world.

"Well, I guess…" Aang had the tendency to say no, but knew better. He motioned for the Prince to move over to the reins.

Prince Zuko grabbed them in full concentration. Aang wondered if the Prince always concentrated so tensely on such uncomplicated tasks.

"Look out for fire navy ships, and tell me if you see one," Prince Zuko pointed out, with a hint of nervousness was it? But Aang snapped out of his absent minded carousel and gave a mere nod.

"You know how to steer right?" Aang instantly remembered the importance of steering Appa correctly. Flying bisons were capable of disobeying quite easily. And if the Prince didn't know how to steer, Aang would have to take over.

"Of course I do," Prince Zuko hissed with dripping venom. Everybody had to judge him as something in lower caste than he actually was. But the truth that cringed at the corner of his thoughts, were that he wasn't completely sure….

"Ok, good….." Aang sighed in relief. He was telling the truth…right?

**Kushai and Katara**

"Do you think Aang and Sokka are on their way…." Katara questioned the absent-minded Kushai, who frowned and looked away to the door.

"Well Katara, Aang and Sokka would most likely think that Prince Zuko was the one that captured us…and…well…"Kushai grimaced in frustration. She hated being bringer of bad news! But she couldn't lie, that's just wrong!

"You don't think they've been captured…do you?" Katara felt a pang of guilt and accusing fingers pointed at her, or was it the lack of sleep that was causing her to hallucinate.

"I'm afraid that's exactly what I am thinking," Kushai pushed aside the worry and frowned a smile. Yes, she 'frowned a smile….don't ask!

Katara nodded, as much as she wanted to deny it. She knew it was a reasonable explanation, but she couldn't help but push away her common sense and think of more crazy answers.

"But I can imagine the arguments between Prince Zuko and Momo right about now. After all, Momo isn't that fond of strangers," Kushai giggled, but she realized it had sounded more like 'tee-hee….heeha…he…uh'. No joke about it, she sounded like a donkey.

Katara smiled, knowing that Kushai was desperately trying to lighten up her face. But in this situation, all she needed was a hug from her mother. Or by the least, a touch at her necklace. But there was nothing to grab, nothing to hold as her prized possession. Only a cold floor, which was hard to cherish at this point. She could always hug Kushai, but it would be different than what she wanted.

Out of nowhere Kushai could feel somebody pull her into a tight embrace. She smiled as she realized it was Katara, and that this was the time to give Katara that relief and security that Kushai didn't have. (It is surprising that you can give people something you don't have, and you don't know how to give. It happens very often with me….it is very confusing…)

"We'll get through this Katara….and I'll be here for you, I'm here," Kushai soothed as if Katara was fragile porcelain. But now there was no difference, she was fragile as glass. And any harsh word could shatter her to pieces. Kushai grimaced as she heard 'clank, clank' and the cling's and clang's of keys at the door. Not now, Kushai could feel Katara tense her muscles.

Katara quickly turned to face Commander Zhao, who faked a mocking 'I-feel-so-bad-for-you-I'm-so-sorry face'.

"Look, save you attitude for a guard or something, 'cause right now it's not wanted in here," Kushai took a step in front of Katara, who was trying to hide her every now and then sobs.

"I thought I taught you a lesson! But I guess not," The man sighed and looked once again at Kushai, with a menacing laugh.

"You're coming with me, one way or the other you will tell me what I want to know," Commander Zhou was about to grab her wrist, but instead he got a kick in the spot! (GIRL POWER!)

"Ouch! D(the bad word...)you!" The Commander sent a wave of curse words out on kushai, while Kuishai and Katara started twitching slightly. Katara could swear that this man and vocabulary had some history!

"Oh, oops! I wasn't aiming for those! I was aiming for your head, but oh well!" Kushai giggled, but froze as the man's tall position was once regained. And he was looking at her with the most puzzling look. But Kushai was pretty sure it was no smile….

"I'm dead…" Kushai smiled innocently as she started taking some steps to her right, but found a vicious flame right in front of her. "I'm taking that as a yes…" Kushai muttered to herself as she prepared to fight. Her energy was restored, and her attitude as always was at its peak.

Kushai did a roundhouse kick, but was blocked to her dismay. She did a back kick, but was once again……blocked.

"Shoot…" Kushai hissed under her breath as she thought about the word 'Commander'. She just now realized the priorities of being Commander of the fire nation. It usually took a master in both firebending AND martial arts to become a Commander.

The Commander shot another deadly flame at her, but Kushai found a stream of water turning it to nothing but harmless water vapor. She turned to see Katara standing up as tall as her body would go, and with a canteen of water.

"Thank the lord…" Kushai sighed in relief as she gave Katara a look that said 'THANK YOU'.

"Let's do this!" Kushai shouted as if she was leading an army. But instead of leading an army, she found 10 soldiers surrounding them. Oh boy….


	17. Breakdown and Power

**Breakdown and Power**

AN: crazyaboutavatar, it was very surprising to me about the blue spirit episode. I was very happy though, that Prince Zuko and Aang together. And the Zhou part, once in a while I do accidentally spell it Zhou. But usually I spell it Zhao. Thank you for the reviews! Sorry I'm late with updating, my internet was crazy!

**Kushai and Katara**

Kushai ducked as a firebender sent a grasping flame at her. She crouched to the ground and made a low spinning kick. To her dismay the firebender didn't trip. Instead he jumped up high and sent another dazzling fire at her by doing a side kick, but realizing that at the same time on her other side a firebender was charging…

Kushai ducked and couldn't help but grin at the loud 'oof'! She looked at the ground and saw the two men sprawled out on the floor. She gave a proud 'hmph'. But while she was in her victorious moment, a soldier took it to the perfect moment by whacking her on the head with a club.

Kushai let out a groan, luckily it hadn't whacked her unconscious. But she was sick of people whapping on her head! Kushai turned on her foot sharply with a following kick in the shins. This time she gave a simple smirk before heading over to Katara who was struggling to hold control of what she was doing.

Katara twisted around to see Kushai sneak up on two soldiers and kicking one into the other. She felt it safe this time to overreact a wide grin. But once again, she had miscalculated. Boom! Everything went black….

Katara ran to Kushai's aid, and stared up into ADMIRAL Zhao's lopsided smile. (His smile is lopsided! And he looks like a monkey…IT'S TRUE!)

"One more time, and she will be at the bottom of the ocean. I suggest you convince her to answer my questions," Admiral Zhao looked down at the unconscious Kushai, giving her a weird look Katara didn't really understand…

**On Appa**

"Um…You have to say Yip-Yip for him to go faster…" Aang threw his hands in front of him, as if Prince Zuko would attack him any moment.

Prince Zuko just nodded a hmph, and gave Appa the 'yip-yip' and the bison slowly quickened the pace.

"There's a fire navy ship to our right!" Aang stood up excitedly and pointed down.

Prince Zuko who had seemed so calm despite his hot temper, now seemed to tense up. Aang gave him a sideways glance to see the Prince retracting a little bit. Though it only lasted for a second it was clear that the Prince had something against this. Prince Zuko shifted to his left and saw Admiral Zhao's ship.

"That's him," Prince Zuko whispered somewhat. The idea of what to do now, hadn't struck him. Not just the fact that he had no idea how to land this 'Appa', but also the fact thatAdmiral Zhao couldn't find out that Prince Zuko was doing this. He had been thinking about it a little earlier, but he hadn't thought of something…

"Wouldn't you get in trouble if you got caught…?" Aang asked cautiously, but the Prince seemed calm. Surprised actually, that Aang had practically read his mind. There was no way he could just put on a wig, the scar would give it away. And it would put him as the joke of the day, or for eternity!

Prince Zuko looked away, nodded sharply and started rummaging through a bag he had been given from a guard he had directed. There were swords, a health aid kit, food, water, tea….? What would he need tea for?

"Here, if this helps in any way…" Aang handed over what Sokka had been wearing at Kyoshi Island. And some white powder…

Prince Zuko grimaced as the suit landed in his arms. It wasn't heavy at all, green, had silk threads…..and was formed like a dress…

Aang smiled innocently as he saw the Prince give him a look that said, you're kidding me…right?

"Sorry, it's all I have. And the powder will cover up your…um, anyway, the dre- I mean suit should fit you. Sokka had to wear it, he didn't look like a girl at all! He was one of the people fighting at Kyoshi Island, so he must've been happy with it…" Aang backed up a bit as the Prince's expression turned into pure disgust.

"Sokka's not that dirty…" Aang pointed out, but as Prince Zuko held the suit a little higher, Aang could swear his eye was twitching. And in about 3 seconds he'd toppled over on his side. Sheesh, Sokka did sweat a lot!

Once Aang had regained his posture, "We could go down and wash it in the water…"

"It would be wet, and we might loose track of the ship," Prince Zuko refused, but the thought of wearing that smell was completely out of the question. But if Admiral Zhao smelled the fragrance, he most surely would refuse to believe it was Prince Zuko!

"Agh…Just turn around while I change…" Prince Zuko directed angrily. If that kid dared turn around…

Aang felt his cheeks turn green as he realized what the Prince was thinking. "Don't worry, I'll just watch the ship and make sure Appa heads the right direction," Aang burst out, quickly taking a seat up front.

Prince Zuko shook his head, but realized exactly what he'd gotten himself out of. Now he didn't need to figure out how to make the animal land! And besides, the sweaty smell wasn't deadly…..ok, it almost was.

Once Prince Zuko turned around, Aang picked up the powder for the Prince. But once he saw the teenager, he couldn't help but muffle laughs. Sokka looked hilarious enough, but this…this was just plain…Outrageous.

Prince Zuko frowned, but knew exactly what the younger boy was laughing at. He must be looking hysterical! Zuko couldn't help but let his eyebrows relax for once, so that his eyes weren't narrowed. He looked at the child, this boy was so much like he had once been…So kind, caring….happy…Or was he? But all these memories of his past were nothing but pictures in his head, just dreams…Prince Zuko couldn't show love, if was taught to him in suffering...It was pure weakness…But there was a burning love inside of him, of hope, caring…That could never be showed to the world…Or could it? Prince Zuko shook away the memories of the young, happy teen that he had once been.

"Land over by the back engine, it will be too noticeable if we land on deck," Prince Zuko pointed at the boat as he looked around at Aang who handed him the powder. Aang nodded, hopefully he would be able to land Appa in the small area, but since the boat was much bigger than the Prince's boat, it wouldn't really cause it unstableness.

"Try to put some water on your face first, the powder should stick better," Aang suggested, much more comfortable with the Prince now. Even if Prince Zuko hated taking orders, he knew better than to start a fit about a little suggestion…so it wasn't exactly a command from the Avatar, it was a suggestion.

The Prince patted water on his face with a cloth. And soon his face was white, even though the scar showed slightly, it wasn't too noticeable.

"If we were alive a hundred years ago. Well, if you were that is, do you think we could have been friends…before the war ever started," Aang smiled at the older boy, who seemed to want to run away. Prince Zuko turned away sharply, unsure what to say, or for that matter, do.

"……….It's ok, you don't need to answer. I understand this is only a one time deal," Aang sighed, but to assure the Prince that he had no hard feelings, gave a slight smile. If the Prince really cared about his assurance that was… Aang looked up in the sky to realize that it was about 7 in the morning, wow they'd been up a whole night!

**Kushai and Katara**

Kushai rubbed her eyes groggily, wincing as she felt the bump on her head. She sat up and looked around desperately for Katara.

"I'm right here Kushai," Katara's calm voice soothed Kushai. Even if Katara was younger than her, it wasn't by much. And besides, it felt like the other way around! Kushai crawled over to Katara, her knees might've started to bleed, but nonetheless it didn't matter. They were trapped here, and there were too many soldiers to fight. Prince Zuko might've been able to fight these guys by himself. Kushai knew that she wasn't the best fighter without her waterbending, and she was much too tired now anyways.

"Katara, it doesn't really matter, but who hit me on the head?" Kushai rubbed the bump on her head gently. Making sure that it wasn't enormous.

"Umm….Admiral Zhao…." Katara braced herself for the flailing arms and legs.

"Who's Admiral Zhao? Wasn't he commander? And why did he hit me on the head instead of burning me? And what does he want from me!" Kushai stood up, for a second Katara could swear there was a glimpse of Zuko on her.

"He got promoted.. I have no idea why he hit you on the head. And he wants something from you for sure, but what he wants…I don't know," Katara shrugged and patted Kushai softly on the back.

"….sigh…We're doomed Katara….He even got promoted…now he has more control than ever," Kushai dropped her head in defeat. Katara was about disagree, but realizing that this girl was so much more 'spirit' than she was. It was clear that all they could do now was, wait for what to come…

"Good morning _ladies._ It seems you've finally come to your senses. There is no reason in fighting against **my **will," Admiral Zhao's voice boomed through the silence. Causing Kushai to jump slightly, but quickly sitting down hopeless as before.

"What do you want?" Katara hissed at the man. All that spirit, happiness, good and bad, had been ripped out of Kushai. And not just by accident, Admiral Zhao had purposefully taken it away from Kushai. Turning her weak by every word that escaped his mouth.

"Right now, all I need is to talk to the Princess over here. Then comes the interesting part-" Admiral Zhao was interrupted by Kushai.

"He's using you as bait Katara. But it doesn't matter, the Avatar doesn't even know who you are _Admiral _Zhao," Kushai clenched her teeth.

"Oh, he'll come. After all, what wouldn't the Avatar do for one of his friends," Admiral Zhao hissed into her ear, making Kushai shiver throughout her whole body. It was one of those evil moment things, and she knew that the bad guys did that. But she'd never actually known how much 'trembling' it caused.

"Now, if you could come along nicely, you won't risk another bump on your head," the Man waited for Kushai to stand up. Even though she was much more comfortable out of the evil presence, and on the floor, she unwillingly took the command without a fit.

"Good," Zhao motioned for her to follow him out the door. Kushai sighed, gave Katara a last glance and stepped after him. What a nightmare!

Once Admiral Zhao and Kushai had come to their destination, a quiet room, he motioned her to sit down. The chair was hard, metal…and it was cold. Very uncomfortable, and even though fitting to the situation, she'd rather have a bit more comfortable place to sit.

"Like I have asked before, does the Prince care for you in any way," The deep voice broke through her heart and re-opened the wound. That painful thought had left her since their situation had been rather important. But now it was back, and it was haunting her.

"No…….not anymore," Kushai whispered the last part rather to herself.Admiral Zhao found this with great interest.

"He used to…?" The man pushed her on, even though he knew it was tearing her apart.

"I think so…" Kushai sighed, she didn't know. But the kiss must've meant something! Right….?

"So, if you get hurt…….would he care?" Admiral Zhao questioned, there was obviously a point to this.

"Look, I don't know! I left with Katara, Sokka, and the Avatar. I said some harsh words that I didn't mean!" Kushai shouted, struggling to control the rage that was ready to let go.

Zhao was pretty sure that they still had feelings for each other. Making his plan, crystal perfect! "Well then, Prince Zuko won't dare hunt the Avatar if he knows your life is on the line," the Man grinned.

"What? You can't do that to him!" Kushai screeched, that was dumb of her. Now it was obvious to him that she cared!

"He's just a banished, spoiled, little Prince. He disrespected the Fire Lord himself, his own father!" The Admiral spat, Kushai just wanted to strangle Zhao!

"How did he disrespect the fire lord, by being kind? Because last time I checked, the fire lord wasn't! He must have something against kindness," Kushai yelled, Admiral Zhao felt offended by this.

"He spoke out of turn. He should've known better than to interrupt in such a way," Zhao spoke as if it was the most criminal thing that could ever be done, while Kushai could imagine herself clawing out his eyeballs!

"And when did interrupting somebody become such a crime, eh?" Kushai stood up, all her bravery, heart, love regaining to make her posture tall and perfect.

"Since when he disagreed with somebody he shouldn't have. He caused his own pain! He was the one who caused his banishment. The scar is his lifetime memory to remind him that he is dishonored!" The Admiral shouted back at the girl. Even though she seemed surprised, her courage boomed out at him.

"You're just like the fire lord, a coward. You're all scared to love, because in your eyes it is weakness. But I don't think you own love, at least not for anyone BUT yourself! Prince Zuko has the greatest heart there is, and you and that fire lord think you are worthy! I'm sure Prince Zuko will be a greater fire lord than you and Ozai could ever be!" Kushai screamed, her voice ringing in Zhao's ears. This was probably the most offending thing anybody had EVER said to him!

Admiral Zhao's face was red, it was hard to believe that those puny words could set of a flame so large! "You and your disgrace is uttermost sickening! You think you are so brave and good. But just you wait and see, the fire nation will win this war. And hopefully you will go down, with your nation!" The man shot a flame at her so she got pushed into the wall. A loud 'oof' could be heard, followed by a yelp as her body hit the floor.

Admiral Zhao was about to leave when a guard came running in, "The Avatar is aboard the ship sir!"

"Finally!" Admiral Zhao snickered as he ran out the door. Leaving it open to where Kushai could leave once she regained consciousness. Kushai looked out the door one time before her vision became spotted with black blurs. Then she could see nothing but black…


	18. Author's Note, SORRY!

**Author's Note**

AN: Thank you to all the reviewers! But now I'm afraid that I won't update for months! I'm VERY sorry, the people who are moving our furniture are coming today, and they're most likely going to pack this computer. But the first chance I get to update my story I will, so please don't forget about my story! I'm thinking I can't update for about 3 months….yeah, sort of long, I know…. But please keep up reviewing!

I'M SORRY!


	19. BACK!

**BACK!**

Author's note: Finally I got my internet working! I'm sorry you all had to wait for so long! Ok, just a fair warning, my English may just stink so badly… you know, since I've been in Norway for so long…so…hehe…yea! But I'll try to update really quickly, but first I'll have to read my last chapter so everything turns out correctly!


	20. Escape?

**Escape…Or Capture?**

Author's note: I'll give a try for this chapter, but don't expect anything….

Well….you can expect a bunch of spelling errors? Fair enough? Ok….let's get typing….hehe…

**Prince Zuko and Aang**

"Do you know where to go?" Aang questioned, having finally gotten used to Prince Zuko and his dress. Aang patted Appa and started following Prince Zuko's quiet, swift strides.

Prince Zuko gave a slightly hesitated nod. Very convincing…..for a squirrel. But Prince Zuko was pretty sure where he was going, well sorta…ok ok, he had almost no clue…

Prince Zuko stopped dead in his tracks as he heard 'clink clink clink,' against the floor. He quickly flattened his body against the wall, Aang copied the motion. With a more…clumsy move that is. He thought there was a wall behind him, but hehe….armor and walls are a lot alike, aren't they?

"Oopsy…," Aang's face reddened as he laughed innocently up at the Admiral that was staring down at him. Aang set torpedo speed up the boat, just as the Admiral was reaching for him.

Prince Zuko was now running too, as tempting as it was to yell at the airhead…he knew better, sadly. Prince Zuko struggled slightly to keep up with the airbender, after all, Aang was as fast as the wind!

Prince Zuko took a turn that Aang didn't notice though. Aaang kept running blindly around the ship, it almost looked pathetic!

Prince Zuko ran into a room and shut the door behind him, thinking that Aang had run into the wall in front of him in the panic he was in. But no, there was no Aang, only a limp body on the floor…wait…!

Prince Zuko walked over to the body, reaching a gentle hand out to stroke away coal-black hair from the face. But he snapped his hand back and stepped away. Kushai…it was her! Laying her in front of him, unconscious…

In his surprise he didn't notice the door behind him slowly opening. But once the door hit a certain point it made a loud creak. Prince Zuko twirled around at the speed of light, almost embarrassed at his quick reaction.

"Kushai!" Aang gasped at the girl laying there on the floor, totally helpless. (Surprise!). Prince Zuko wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad, the shock of the situation had nearly put him in the same position as Kushai's! But yet, he was so relieved it wasn't anybody else…

"What happened?" Aang continued as he ran over to her, forgetting to shut the door behind him. Prince Zuko jumped at the door, and smacked it closes right before another hand reached for the door. Ok, Prince Zuko was ready to explode! That was thesecond thing Aang had done that nearly killed them! Or him, for that matter….

But he had something else on mind… Prince Zuko walked over to Kushai. Noticing Aang's eyes resting on him curiously, he tried to shrug it off, but it wasn't easy.

Aang stared at Prince Zuko curiously, he really did like her. It was all clear now! He had fallen for her, well; in this case she was the one who had fallen.

"Prince Zuko….um, is this the right time for…um..," Aang struggled to find the right words that wouldn't sound offending. Aang prepared to run for his life, but once again was shocked at his reply.

Prince Zuko nodded, he stood up but before he had a chance to think the door flew open. Face to face were now Prince Zuko and Admiral Zhao.

"So, the Avatar has gotten himself a more worthy protector?" Admiral Zhao snickered as about 15 more men entered the room. Prince Zuko was holding back a smile, but didn't want to show off any characteristics that would give him away. Prince Zuko took a fighting stance, moving unnoticeably closer to Kushai for her protection.

Aang on the other hand was offended, and his rage was prepared to fight!

Admiral Zhao was searching frantically in his brain for who this boy could possibly be. There was something familiar….but what….Admiral Zhao shot a fire at the 'boy'.

Prince Zuko saw the fire and ducked quickly and made a spinning kick, hoping to trip him. But Admiral Zhao had too much experience to fall for that and avoided the powerful kick.

Zhao froze for only a second, and surprised Zuko by all of a sudden shooting a flame at Kushai. Prince Zuko panicked and jumped in front of her and by using his firebending was able to break the wall of fire.

"Not a very smart move….now was it, Prince Zuko," Admiral Zhao snickered. (Dun-dun-dun)

Katara

(Aren't I mean? I always cut off at the exciting parts huh? Haha, sorry!)

"Where is she!" Katara stomped around in the cold room. And the clinking sound from her every step was driving her insane. So why didn't she just stop walkig? Katara didn't know, so technically, she was annoying herself.

Katara started pulling at her tangled hair; she just had to do something! She walked over to the door clumsily. She was tired, and the stress wasn't helping by much. She stared out through the bars, hoping tht something incredible would happen that would let her out.

She was desperate enough to see if the door was unlocked, but hey, an admiral should know better than to leave the door open! And like Katara pretty much knew already, it was locked. She leaned up against the metal door and sunk to her knees. This was a living nightmare…everything….this war….this everything! Exactly why she had to stop it!

Prince Zuko

Prince Zuko panicked, and was searching frantically for an answer as for what to do now. If the Admiral had proof that it was Prince Zuko he wouldn't only be banished from the Fire nation, he would be banished from this world...

"Give it up, you know you can't win this," Admiral Zhao laughed as Prince Zuko could feel his body surrender to Zhao, or for that matter, from life…

"That's where you're wrong," Came a voice, shocking to all ears in the room. Kushai stood up and planted a step in front of the Prince, her posture was enough to explain that she was here for the troubled boy. And that nobody should step in her path.

"You are sooooo wrong," Kushai repeated and gave one of those lopsided smiles that Admiral Zhao always made when he had won something. It was quite offending really…

Zhao was tired of her mortal courage and spirit. He growled and shot the most dangerous fire at Kushai. But Prince Zuko was there too, and only the love from the girl could recharge his spirit in such a way.

But Prince Zuko would have to help Aang too, who was struggling with the firebenders behind him. He kicked one to the ground, who happened to drag Aang with him. Aang laid there only a couple of seconds before another firebender leaped at him. The firebender crashed into the other as Aang moved out of the way.

Kushai looked straight at Admiral Zhao, and finally, she wasn't afraid to make eye contact. She kicked him hard, but got flung over his shoulders. She found herself sailing through the air, and out the door, landing hard out on the deck.

He ran over to her and pulled a hand out around her throat. "One move…and you'll be dead," the Admiral whispered, out of breath. Kushai froze, but was she really afraid to die? The question sounded insane right then, but it was true. She wasn't afraid, but yet, she needed to live if she wanted to help Prince Zuko and the Avatar.

Prince Zuko had heard the loud thump from Kushai's fall, he turned around to see the source of the sound. He too froze as he struggled to take in the picture. Why did life have to be so complicated!

"That's right, if you don't hand over the Avatar you'll have to say bye to your little **friend**," Zhao smiled sneakily.

"No, it's ok! The Avatar is more important than me!" Kushai desperately tried to convince him. Her words were blurred and quick. "Don't save me if you have the chance to save the whole world! Aang is the key here, he can bloom into something, and he is already on his way….please," Kushai broke into tears, no, she wouldn't be the one to let the whole world down. The only way to let the Avatar have at least a chance was if she somehow got herself killed, there and then…..

AN: OH NO! She's gonna die! Dumb author, she doesn't know what she's typing!


	21. Facing Death

**Facing Death**

AN: Well, aren't you guys lucky, I got sick throughout the night so I can't get to camp today! It really hurts to breathe, Ouchy…but hey, I have nothing better to do than write so…you better compliment me on this, hehe.

Kushai

Kushai started to wriggle in the Admiral's grasp, of course this was really unexpected for the man. He could swear he had told her to stay still of face death! Luckily for him, he was able to hold on to the wriggling girl.

Kushai felt the grip on her throat tighten, she would have smiled, but that seemed somewhat crazy. You're almost dying and you start smiling…yeah…makes sense!

Zhao panicked slightly, exactly what was she doing! Performing some sort of suicide! He hadn't really expected her to do this, so he hadn't really thought he needed to kill her. Or maybe, she was just trying to get out of his grasp…well, that sounded really obvious…

Prince Zuko stared in shock, this girl was totally confusing him. But only a second of his confused thoughts were able to pass before he realized what she was doing. Suicide!

Prince Zuko charged at Zhao, and have I mentioned this was not doing his profile much good…

Zhao out of nowhere pulled up a knife from his pocket, and placed it across her throat. "Don't move," He threatened, not only to Kushai but to the nervous Prince too.

Aang had had enough of this stupidity! "Let her go!" Aang loudly commanded, and for once his voice sounded threatening. Or for that matter, as threatening as it could sound. "I said, let her go!" Aang repeated again, with the same force thundering in his voice.

Prince Zuko turned around to see Aang pointing the staff at Zhao, who laughed stupidly.

"Is this a joke, Avatar?" Zhao questioned with an unbelieving voice. He was still laughing his evil laughter. And have you ever tried to pick up a chair or hold on to something when you laugh? Well, it becomes kinda heavy and harder to hold on to, eh?

BOOM! Kushai jammed her elbow into his solar plexus, and thus the armor, the surprise was enough to send him off balance. And the laughter had softened his grasp too, which came much to Kushai's advantage.

She quickly picked up a stream of water from the ocean and whipped it at him. Zhao was thrown to the railing, he strained to regain his faltering balance. But he had only as much time to blink as he felt a gust of wind push him off the ship.

The splash sounded throughout the ship, and to Zuko, Aang, and Kushai the sound was like a wave of relief washing over them. Aang for once, was the first one to notice that the crew was quickly coming nearer them.

He jumped up high and swung his staff around, shotting out a circle of wind that pushed them off the ship, or caused them to fall head or butt first to the ground. Kushai motioned for them to follow her.

She opened up a door, and ran down the stairs. She stopped abruptly, causing Aang to run into her, nearly throwing her on the hard metal floor. But thanks to her quick reflexes, she grabbed something behind her. She only took a second to see the thing she had grabbed. She found it being Zuko's sword!

She snapped her hand up, but forgetting that it was all she had to hold on to she crashed to the floor. And exactly now was the right time to remind herself why she had performed such an abrupt halt. She looked up innocently to see one of her guards standing there. "Hehe…oops?" She laughed quietly

She felt herself being lifted up just as the guard's hand grabbed after her. She was on her feet, and felt like kissing Zuko who had just saved her. They ran past the puzzled guard. Speeding down the corridor, Kushai once again froze unexpectedly.

"AH! You've got to stop doing that!" Aang screeched with flailing arms trying to regain his balance. Aang brushed a hand across his forehead, phew. He was ok, and he hadn't fallen! And almost all thanks to his airbending!

"AANG! KUSHAI!" A voice bounced around the corridor. Kushai once again set full speed down the corridor. Aang on the other hand just stood there.

Prince Zuko ran up to him, and gave him a quizzical expression. Aang only motioned for him to go first. Prince Zuko ran up in front. Aang breathed out a long breath. Saved from the dangerous, unexpected stop!

Once again Kushai stopped her little stop. But this time it was Prince Zuko behind, who had to jump to the left to avoid a crash. Aang grimaced, ouch, that looked painful!

Prince Zuko growled quietly and started getting up from the hard floor. Kushai hadn't noticed any of the struggling behind her, she ran over to Katara. "Are you ok?" Kushai and Aang asked in unison.

Katara answered a quiet, raspy, yes. This worried Aang, but oh great…there was another thing…. "Don't we need a key…?" Aang mentally slapped himself, at his lack of IQ at that moment.

Kushai froze, "Eh…oops…umm…yeah…we might need a key…." Kushai felt completely 'doih'. Kushai, get your brain together…I think your seriously missing a peace, COMMON SENSE! Kushai reassured Katara that they would be right back as soon as she found that key… and her missing brain piece…

Prince Zuko slapped himself…this was the girl that he loved? Alrighty then….wait, did he just admit it straight out!

"Maybe the guard has it," Kushai suggested as they rounded a corner. "OOF," Kushai puffed out as she ran into the Guard. Ah, keys! Kushai quickly snatched the keys from the man's belt. She gave yet another innocent smile, and turned and ran.

Aang stood there for a second, face to face with the guard. Awkward….."Eh…so….do you like your job?" Aang questioned out of the blue. The guard gave a quizzical look, but only for that matter, a couple of seconds. He pounced on Aang, but to the guard's dismay, caught only about 5 dust pieces…

Prince Zuko took this chance to try and knock out the guard so they could safely pass him, once they got Katara of course.

Aang ran after Kushai, quickly catching up with her.

Kushai quickly locked up the door, to find Katara leaning on the door, and falling out with it. "Thanks…," Katara muttered, a little grumpily.

"KATARA!" Aang exclaimed as he threw his arms around her neck, embracing her happily. Katara smiled and hugged him back. Kushai giggled quietly…how cute!

"Ok you two, we need to get of this dumb ship full of rotten firebenders!" Kushai said loudly. "Eh…I didn't mean that like…um.." Kushai fought to find the right words to make up for that. Prince Zuko just smiled, not a big smile, just a 'watch your mouth' smile.

Katara froze as she saw Zuko, "Watch out!" She yelled as she pulled Aang to the side.

"It's ok Katara, he's on our side….well kinda…" Aang explained, but seeing Zuko's face, corrected a few errors…

Katara stood there for, oh, about a couple of years more!

"Stand there 5 months more would ya," Kushai joked irritably as she jerked Katara's arm, Katara still, in her little 'I don't believe this trance!'

Prince Zuko ran first, up the stairs, and onto the deck where they heard a a deafening shout that sent shivers down their spines.

"Get the Avatar, and kill the rest!" Rang in the ears of Kushai, Katara, and the others. Kushai turned around, would she have to face death once again? Kushai stopped, she had to do something…hm…

Admiral Zhao observed Kushai, while the crew slowly set way towards them. He became nervous as a sneaky smile emerged on her face.

"Aravat…itspir…meco…wndo…onup…su…sa…het…thseire…ksas…," Kushai spoke an odd line of unknown words. But Katara did react to them…..she knew what was going on…but found it hard to consume the unusual words.

Aang started glowing, his Avatar Spirit had stricken! "Everybody, gather close to me!" Kushai shouted to Prince Zuko, since Katara already knew the drill. The boy did as she said, and was surprised to find a glowing cover surrounding them, some sort of force-field.

Zhao quivered, and ran to the side of the sip and was getting ready to jump, but exactly then was when Aang had started a huge tornado. Splash, splash, splash, splash….etc. Was all Prince Zuko, Katara, and Kushai could hear.

Once the 'hurricane' was over, Kushai stopped the force-field, and ran to Aang's aid, who had collapsed on the hard metal floor. Katara and Prince Zuko just stood there, traumatized.

"Oh no, stay where you are, I'll carry him all the way over to Appa…by myself…" Kushai yelled sarcastically, struggling to lift the boy 2 cm up from the ground. Kushai was weaker than usual from her tremendous effort.

Prince Zuko ran over to her. "…Um..how…uh" he stammered unbelievably.

"I'll tell you once we get off this ship," Kushai mumbled as she and the boy started pulling Aang towards the dozing Appa. Katara followed, without saying a word. What had just happened!

Once they had started to fly, Kushai sighed, "Well…you're probably wondering just what happened…"

Katara coughed slightly, hinting that she kind of knew. "You're a seireth…aren't you…?" Katara questioned, amazed at the girl. Was she really, or was it something else….

AN: Ok, the author seems to be having some typing errors or what? No, in fact there is a logical way to find out what the words really are! See if you can solve them, and tell me through a review! But hey, that doesn't mean that if you don't know, you shouldn't review! Hint hint Can't update tomorrow though, I'm leaving for camp then, since I'm feeling better now!


	22. Gone!

**GONE!**

AN; Sorry! Can't write for a while! I'm going to Spain for a week and a half! Sorry!


	23. Kushai's Past

**Kushai's Past**

An: Sorry, I haven't felt like writing these past days. IN fact, I don't feel very much for it now either. But hey, I'll try! So I guess you're wondering, what in the world is a seireth!

**On Appa**

"I am a seireth…." She looked up at Katara who was shaking her head vigorously. Prince Zuko didn't look so amazed, the face would rather be described as a simple word, dainbramage! (brain damage)

"It means I can activate the Avatar's spirit, and a couple of other gifts I am unaware of…though I know I can heal, but I haven't figured out how yet," Kushai explained to the puzzled Prince. "I'm from the hidden Hanooki tribe, at least I thought it was hidden. Exactly why I was surprised you found our tribe," Kushai remembered the first time they met. When she had so dumbly fallen flat on her butt.

Prince Zuko seemed to be replaying that moment too, but not for long. He started thinking about this seireth thing. He looked back at her, just realizing the reckless situation.

Katara was still playing the words in her mind when a slow, and almost croaked voice, caused her to shudder. "They'll hunt you down…do you realize the debt of this situation?" Prince Zuko whispered, unsure if his voice was able to reach ones ears. His voice would make one rethink to wonder if their ears had deceived them.

The silence was heavy with ponderous thinking. "It was a bad idea wasn't it….I shouldn't have done it….should I?" Kushai questioned, her hand trembling.

"Kushai, either way what you did your life would be on the line," Katara reassured with a pressed smile. Even if it ended up as a grimace, she knew she couldn't perform much better.

Kushai relaxed her tensed muscles, but tried hopelessly to calm her constant trembling. She sighed, giving up on hers\ shaking hands.

Katara took it to the right time and inquired curiously, "The Hanooki tribe….are all the people there seireths? And how do you become one?" Katara could feel creeping guilt at asking for her private information. It was a HIDDEN tribe after all, and she would understand if Kushai refused to answer.

Kushai tensed again, if Prince Zuko or Katara were to be proven as untrustworthy….which she highly doubted, then she could as well be banished from her tribe. Like Prince Zuko….Hesitation was clear on her face. Kushai remembered clearly when she had first been ordered to keep her mouth shut about the Hanooki tribe. She had only been 6, but yet the directions had been strict.

Kushai sighed, again…."I am really not supposed to tell anything about this and….sigh….but, if you really need to know….." Kushai sat back and heaved yet another sigh. She prepared to tell a long story of her younger presence.

**Flashback:**

_Kushai giggled as her mother chased her playfully. "You can't catch me!" Kushai loudly said as yet another spill of giggles overwhelmed her._

_Shalmira laughed, "You might be right, you are quite fast!" _

_Kushai ran and ran, not tiring of the joyful game. Until right in front of her were a pair of legs. She abruptly stopped and stared up into a serious face. She was only six at the time and had not been told in such a strict way of what her ears would soon have the dismay to hear._

_Shalmira stopped too, her face looking suddenly draught and tired._

"_The fire nation is close by our shores, they have not spotted us. But we have yet to be discovered if anybody who misunderstands the importance of keeping secret of our tribe." The soldier looked down at the frightful Kushai. "You must understand this. You mustn't tell anybody of our location or presence! If they were to discover us, we would be pulled into the war. Unless we surrendered by will. Unless we don't, they would take our land by force. Killing anybody in their way!"_

"_Don't talk of death to our daughter! She will not get into wrongs way! Now that she knows I'm sure she will follow these orders," Shalmira tried to calm her loud voice, her usual calm nature deceiving her by all._

"_She'll have to understand sooner or later!"Kylo shouted back furiously "War might be upon us, and as much as I love our daughter, she'll need to understand!" Kyro got a grip on his temper, and found to realize Kushai hugging her mother's legs tightly as she sobbed quietly._

"_I'm sorry Kushai. Your mother is right….it was wrong of me to speak to you in such a manner! I guess your daddy is just a bit afraid…" He bent down and gently picked her up into his arms._

_Shalmira relaxed and smiled. But the reminder of the fire nation caught her in the action._

_Kushai was back down on the ground as her parent talked, concern in their voice._

_Kushai understood she wasn't meant to listen to it and shed her shoes to sit down and pull a cover of sand over them. She played in it, enjoying the warmth spreading through her body. But stopped as her mother yelled in panick at her to get up and out of the sand. But it was too late…._

_Kushai yelped as she saw a great wave form over her! She strained to get up, but could not free herself of the frozen stiff, traumatized body. She panicked and frantically tried to get up again, but again, her body failed to react._

_Kushai closed her eyes, knowing that death was near. But then she felt someone grab her, firmly picking her off the ground and run away from the gigantic wave. Kushai knew now that it was her mother, and wanted desperately to hug her and never let go._

_The wave pulled Shalmira's legs under her, causing them to buckle. She crashed to the ground, and with the last of her strength pushed Kusha out of death's fiery grasp. Kushai froze, "MOM!"_

"_Run…..run little one!" Shalmira urged her as she was pulled out into the ocean by the strong pull of the wave which had not yet crashed to the ground. But soon would! The impact of the wave was sure to kill her…_

_Kushai shouted, tears stung her eyes, she wanted to run back to her. She wanted to help…NOOOO….MOM! She couldn't let her die!_

_She pushed herself harder than she thought possible as she tried to waterbend the wave away from her mother. The wave slowed,and to all the watchers' surprise, ( who had run there to find the source of the yells and shouts of panic) the wave froze in mid air. Although shaking tremendously, Kushai strained to hold it up…it struck everyone that the effort to hold the deadly trap up would drain the little girl of her energy….and kill her…._

_Shalmira spoke, "I grant you with my power as the seireth…I ntgra uoy ym erpow sa het thseire!"_

_SPLASH! The vawe collapsed on the body. "NO!" shouted the little girl as the wave dropped. How could she have let it fall! And why hadn't her mother tried to get out of the waves grasp? And what words w…ere…s…he……._

**End of flashback**

Kushai had broken into tears when she finished… She sobbed loudly as she sought for her mother's comfort…as she willed her mother to come alive again….

"Kushai….I'm sorry…I shouldn't have asked…" Katara winced as the sobs repeatedly came.

"No….it's not your fault Katara…it's mine… I had a choice whether to speak my past…and I did…," Kushai sniffed loudly and brushed tears from her face.

"I blacked out after I held that wave…which wasn't a surprise, except for the fact that I woke again…my father who had been standing through the whole thing and shouting for my mother and I…had died too when I awoke…from the pain of loosing all his family…yet he had let go too early…I was alive! I only wish I could've woken earlier to tell him that! It was when I realized how much love he owned for me and my mother…" Kushai started sobbing again. Tears trailing down her hot cheeks.

Prince Zuko had been listening in awe…he had never heard of such love for a family…he had never heard of such a powerful bender at 6 years old…he had never heard of such…such a dramatic, and yet so amazing, a story…

"Kushai….your story is more depressing than any story I have ever heard….but you should know…I'll be here when your family isn't…but all this time you've been shielding your powers…." Katara looked at Kushai, scooted over to her and gently patted her on the back.

"I was afraid…if I told you about my powers….you'd be expecting so much of me…but I'm really not that much more powerful than you or Prince Zuko…you see, I have no control over my powers! I don't know even what they can do! But most of all….I didn't want to use my power…because it reminds me of my painful experience….you should know that many times I've had to face death…too many for my liking…And how I activated Aang's spirit, amazed even myself! I don't know what came over me! Just how the power strikes him as confusing, it does me just the same!" Kushai exclaimed. She turned to Aang automatically just as everybody else had at the mention of his name.

"Kushai…all I can say is…you're amazing…but are you more powerful than the Avatar himself?" Katara questioned a bit warily.

"I know this much, I'm only as powerful as him when he is in my presence," She gestured at Aang. "But enough of this…he still isn't awake…it's making me a bit concerned," Kushai reached a hand out to touch his forehead. He seemed ok….maybe the energy was just pulled out of him tooo unexpectedly…Kushai hoped…

"We'll have to make sure he's warm and keep alert to his movements," Kushai ordered as she bent down to cover him in the blanket she had pulled out of her bag. This was going to be a tiring night….

AN: Ok, this chapter stinks so bad, I can still smell it downstairs! Oh wait, that was just me…hehe…PLEASE REVIEW! (Even if it stinks)


	24. Safe at Last

**Safe at Last**

AN: Ok, this is sure to be a bummer chapter! I am practically forgetting how to spell hello, ok not really….but oh well! I'm sorry I haven't written for 50 years…But hey, I have a life too ya know!Ouchy! It's been a while since I was writing on this chapter, and during that time I have hurt my ankle really badly! It MIGHT even be broken, and yeah, here I am…..hopping around on one foot like an idiot….urgh…and it's Halloween today! I won't get to go trick-or-treating! So please give me many comments to take over for the loss of candy……….OH! And to o-dragon, Aang hit her with a rock! Thank you for the reviews, all of you!

**On top of Appa**

Prince Zuko scooted farther over to the end as he realized the Avatar was awakening. Zuko had his own problems at the moment, precisely how he would get of this buffalo without the whole ship sticking their eyes on him. And more importantly, his uncle…

Kushai could feel her stomach doing flips as Aang started to wriggle. Kushai opened her mouth and tried to hold back the squeaks.

"…..Where am I?...ugh….headache," Aang mumbled grouchily as he awoke.

"HEAVEN! Thank the lords!" Kushai exclaimed in relief!

"HEAVEN! I'M DEAD!" Aang shot up from his laying position, and started to touch his body! Then his hands shot up to the back of his neck, and his eyes transfixed on Kushai who was looking confusedly at him, with puzzled eyes.

"I'm dead….. I….I…even have wings…" Aang whispered disdained as he touched the wings again.

"Huh? Aang what are you blabbering about! You're not in heaven! I just said heaven because I was relieved!" …………Pause……….silence…."And those aren't wings, you've been crushing Momo's ears, for the last couple of minutes!" Kushai giggled and threw her arms around Aang's neck happily. Aang felt the 'wings' jump off of him, "Momo….sorry…"Aang blushed and patted the lemur affectionately.

Katara who had taken her share of the night, awoke too and leaped on Aang! "You're awake!" Katara said, sparkling eyes drawing attention to her face.

Aang smiled, "Yes….I'm not in heaven…or for worser matters in he-…umm, never mind!" Aang blushed again and made that silly face.

Prince Zuko sat at the corner and started at frenzied girls. Almost noticing a small hint of jealousy threatening to engulf him.

"We must land now, flying at this time of day is not of safety manners. The fire nation ships are most active at this time. We will leave at night," Prince Zuko commanded strictly.

Aang was a bit surprised to see his enemy sitting in front of him. For one drastic moment, Aang was sure he had been captured. But then remembered everything, and sat back relaxed, and nodded in approval.

Momo, still curious of the dude with a much longer pony tail than Sokka, snuck up to Zuko and reached curiously for the long black hair.

Prince Zuko jumped as a reflex and spun around, shooting a fire at Momo. Momo ducked and squawked in panic, later followed by an innocent trill.

"Urgh! Get that lemur away from my pony….." Zuko froze, when ever before had he used his hair in the category of pony tail! And even worse, it had ended up as pony! (Ponies are baby komodo rhinos)

Aang started fnsh'ing and phts'ing as usual. And hid under his blanket, acting as if he was looking for something.

"Hmph….just keep that lemur away from me…." Prince Zuko snarled and set his eyes on Kushai, who was giggling sweetly. His frown slowly slipped into an adoring smile. He wanted to scoot over to her and slip his hands around her….Zuko shrugged off the thought, what was he thinking….he never smiled! He only snickered, and

Aang had been watching, and of course, started to fight the laughter again. Katara, not far from doing the same.

Zuko stared over at them with fiery eyes, warning clear in his face.

Katara and Aang quickly shut their yaps and started to scramble around in their bags to just simply, be doing something.

20 minutes….

"Finally! Good boy Appa," Aang jumped off and gave Appa long pats.

Katara got off too, smiling, enjoying the feel of peace at last. And nice soft grass under her feet. She shed off her shoes and started walking over to a lake. Katara gestured for Kushai to follow, after all, they had been stuck in a prison cell for the last couple of days!

Kushai giggled, she too pulled her shoes off and threw them behind her. She stopped as she heard a slightly too hollow thump and a small grunt following, "Sorry Zuko! My bad…." Kushai blushed and charged for the lake before any flames pursued her.

Prince Zuko shrugged, sat down and started studying a map.

Aang snuck over to him, trying to get behind him unnoticed. And right as he was about to take a look at the map he tripped over a branch and ended up laying at Zuko's side.

"Eh….hi…umm…nice map," Aang smiled innocently as he laid there in a goofy position.

Prince Zuko frowned, this was one of those times he wondered exactly why he hadn't been able to capture the Avatar before! "Don't you have anything better to do than attempt at idiotic situations?" Prince Zuko snickered and made a small flame in his hand.

"You're right….I'll go practice firebending over there!" Aang knew this would make Zuko curious, and therefore hid far in the forest. OK, so Aang wasn't sure how to firebend, but it was too tempting to trick Zuko in such a way to care!

Prince Zuko turned his head, he knew firebending? Oh no….that wasn't good at all!

Prince Zuko eyed Aang curiously, as he could only see small parts of his clothing here and there.

"Don't you have anything better to do than attempt at….these difficult…" Aang popped up in front of Zuko.

Zuko looked away and snickered, "You should learn your words before it's too late."

"Yeah….right…," Aang couldn't help but notice how much more comfortable he was around Zuko than before…..but then the painful reminder….Zuko was Aang's enemy...

AN: Please give me suggestions for the next chapter! I was struggling to think of things for this one….and please give suggestions for other things! PLEASE REVIEW! This chapter was pretty bad, sorry….but you can still review…right?


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